


Yearning for Heaven's Arms

by AeroStarry



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels, Alternate Universe - Guardian Angels, Angst, Aqua & Terra & Ventus Are Family (Kingdom Hearts), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fallen Angels, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Memory Loss, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Someone will die, Vanitas Being an Asshole (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas Is Bad at Feelings (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas Is a Troll (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas Swears (Kingdom Hearts), Vanven, Ventus Needs a Hug (Kingdom Hearts), Vomiting, We Die Like Men, also inspired by Journey and Sky: Children of the Light, angel au, just kidding I have a beta reader, of fun!, slightly inspired by Haibane Renmei, venvan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:02:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 44,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AeroStarry/pseuds/AeroStarry
Summary: "What is more heavenly than sin? What is more deadly than virtue?"When Ventus, a young angel born from light, meets an angel with wings as black as charcoal, Ven swears they've met before. And that's only the start of his well built life unraveling at the seams."You and I are descended from those who knew that stars were once in the sky."He will have to defy all that he's known, and embrace the one person he might be able to truly trust.
Relationships: Aqua & Terra & Vanitas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), VanVen - Relationship, Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), background terraqua...I think they get one kiss line and that's it
Comments: 32
Kudos: 66





	1. Welcoming Daylight

Angels, winged beings of light born from the light of Kingdom Hearts itself, protectors and healers of the big and small, the celestial beings who rule the sky. About a thousand of them oversee all realms of the universe, from the upper heavens of Scala, to the lower parts where the 13 preside over Darkness itself. They even govern the lands of sleep, yet angels aren’t supposed to dream. Angels only ever get visions of the past while awake, some rarely see glimpses of the future. 

Yet…..Ventus could see while he slept. Yes, slept. His fellow angels just needed to rest thier eyes for a couple of hours, but he needed sleep, as if he were a human. He could see himself, slowly falling from the sky, the wind rushing past his ears. He could almost grasp the wispy clouds that billowed past him. He was in a vivid swirl of colors: yellow, pink, red, and all of them gave way for the blue. He turned over, towards where the ground should have been. Instead, he was surprised to see that he was falling towards an empty ocean of nothingness, reflecting the blue of the sky above him. _Where…._ He thought. _Where was anything? Where am I? Where is this?!_ He looked around in a panic. He remembered being asleep, safe in his bed, but the next thing he knew, he was in the sky?! And why couldn’t he move? Why didn’t his wings activate?

As he started falling faster, the colors of dawn left, and shifted to the deep blue of night. An army of stars surrounded the boy as he fell. He looked around in awe.  
 _Stars? But….that’s impossible…._ _  
_Some shot past him, leaving behind trails of light. He looked around, entranced by them. He still had no idea where he was, but he wasn’t panicked anymore. He felt oddly at peace, with the stars whizzing past him. One of them landed right into his body, causing his skin to itch a little. He urged his body to free itself, and when he could feel his muscles tighten at his will, he immediately looked around. He….was glowing. His skin shone like the stars under him. Now he was _really_ confused,and he had no idea how to get back home. But as he fell more, his eyelids grew heavy. _Falling asleep again? But…._  
He couldn't even finish his thought as he glowed brighter, and his mind started to stir from sleep. But right before it did, he saw himself. It was like he was watching his own body from the outside, seeing more light grow from it until it was as bright as the other stars. And like a star, it shot across the sky. 

“AH!” Ventus woke up with a jolt. He quickly looked around, and was relieved to see that he was in fact, back in his bed like he always was. “Oh thank the Light…” He said to himself. “But that was still weird…”  
It was a universal fact that angels did not sleep like humans or dream. Occasionally, Star Seer angels could dream, but it wasn’t very often. Star Seers used their powers to look into the future, and oversee celestial bodies like planets and moons. Star Seers were as rare as seeing stars in the sky, (Stars have not been seen for such a long time, almost 5 angelic cycles.) and their power gave them visions that were integral to defending the balance of the realms.  
 _“We walk the dreams of humans….we wouldn’t even have the time to dream since some angels constantly have to watch the realms of Sleep._

"Ah, whatever. What time is it…."

He looked at the clock on the wall to the right of his bed. Was it that late already? “Oh great...Aqua is gonna yell at me for sleeping too much…” He got up and yawned, quickly throwing open his closet door and changing into something fast. After that, he looked over on his night stand, where some vials were neatly put. He sighed. Even though it was drilled into his head over and over about how imperative it was to drink the medicine and not even miss one day of dose, he still couldn’t stand it. He popped the cork off of one vial, squinted at the dark blue liquid, and downed the little bottle as fast as he could. In an instant, the incredibly bitter taste coated his tongue. It was like he shoveled random plants and dirt into his mouth. _Just swallow it quickly,_ He told himself, and his neck tightened when he took it all.

_“I swear it gets worse the more I drink it...ugh. Anyways…”_

He burst out of his room, and made it to the stairs, slid down the spiral railings even though Aqua told him a thousand times not to. He stuck the landing and raced to the main meeting table. 

“I’m….hah...here!” He exclaimed. 

  
Aqua was sitting down already, barely looking up from her book when Ven barged in the room. “Ah. So Sleeping Beauty finally rises from her slumber,” she joked. 

Ven pouted. She didn’t scold him, but she still did point it out. “Sorry, I just had a weird…” he stopped himself. How would he explain to Aqua that he had a weird _dream?_ She either outright wouldn’t believe him or probably tell their master, which he _definitely_ didn’t want. “Uh…”  
Aqua raised an eyebrow. “Weird….?”

Ventus blushed. “Um...I just um...wanted to have some time to myself before I got down here!” 

She snorted. “Alright, fair enough. As long as you’re getting enough rest, that is what actually matters. And, I don’t think Terra is up yet.”

  
“He’s not?” That was a little odd. Sometimes Terra was up earlier than even the master, who often had to leave before dawn took her place in the sky. 

“I checked on him, and not only was he deep into trance, he snored like a bear. I couldn’t even wake him, and trust me, I tried. It's like he sleeps like a human, and you.” She stirs her tea a little. 

“Maybe he’s off studying again?” Ven offered up. It was the exam part of the current cycle, and all the younger angels were getting antsy. Moths, young training angels would become 1st rank full angels, and some 1st rank angels would take their upper specialist tests, to take on roles like Archangels (guardians/soldiers), Sylphs (healers), Star-Seers, Keepers (historians), among others. Some specialists would go on to take their Avocet exams to become masters of their specialities. 

“If that’s so, he’s overworking himself,” she said, with growing worry in her voice. “All that is going to do is have negative effects on him. I’ll check on hi-”

Before she could even rise from her chair, the two of them heard heavy footsteps come down from the stairs. The door to the meeting hall swung open and there he was, with messy hair and wrinkled clothing. He glanced at them with an acknowledging nod before stumbling to the kitchen. His boots made loud click clacks against the marble floor.  
  


Both Aqua and Ven stared at him in silent shock when he meandered past them. 

“Is….Did that just happen?” Ven whispered when he left. 

Aqua nodded. “Did you see his eyes? Absolutely bloodshot. Did he have any time to properly recharge this week? He must be completely lux-starved.”

Ventus shrugged. “He _is_ overworking himself for the Avocet exams so it would make sense that he would be exhausting all his light energy.” He scratched at his lower back. 

“I’ll say something to him…” Aqua mumbled, getting up with her teacup. 

Ven sighed. Even though they didn’t eat as much as humans, it was still nice to sit in the dining part of the hall and catch up and talk before it was time for their day to start. 

When he was left alone, he couldn’t help but think about the strange things he saw while sleeping. He knew from human studies class that it was dreaming, what mortals did as they rested. Most of the time, these dreams hold important meanings in their subconcious. But for angels, it was different. Neither did they really need to sleep for as long as humans. Thier sleep was much different. It was known as trance, retreating into thier bodies for rest, yet still remaining semi conscious. They had no need for actual sleep, being connected to the light. Ventus however did need some sleep, but he couldn’t imagine sleeping for 9 hours straight every day unless his body was in peril.

 _Maybe it’s because I accidentally went in a human’s dream? I’ve heard that can happen.._ _  
_He scratched at his lower back. That could be it, though it was still unlikely. Still, it was a better explanation then he had a _dream._ He could look in the library later, if this still bothered him. For now, he was going to chalk it up as an accidental dreamwalk and move on. 

“Oh!” Aqua said, as she stepped out, holding hands with an exhausted Terra, who was holding a full plate of ambrosia shards. “I forgot to ask, Ven? Do you need some extra energy?”

He shook his head. He had some ambrosia 3 days ago, and was still good. He aimlessly scratched at his back again. _Huh. Aren’t I itchy…._

  
“Me neither actually. I had some tea earlier, but that was it. And as for this one,” She poked Terra’s cheek. “Exhausted _and_ lux starved?” 

“Yeah...I know.” Terra grumbled, and set his plate down on the table. He plopped down in a seat next to Aqua. Ven sat near the two of them. 

“Well, is there any tea left?” Ven asked as he had to scratch again, much to his annoyance. 

Aqua smiled. “There is, want some?” 

  
He nodded. Aqua rose out of her chair once more and went to the kitchen.

Ventus groaned as his skin continued to itch deeply, to the point where the boy gave up on his fingers and started rubbing his back against the chair.  
Terra looked up from his plate and saw him trying to scratch.  
“Are you nesting?” He asked, with a little excitement. 

“Huh?” Ven asked. “Growing another pair of wings? Already? Th-” He stopped scratching and felt around his back, and was surprised to find a bump on his back, a little under where his wings would be. When he moved past it- there it was, another bump. That would explain why his back was so damn itchy. He groaned. As much as another pair of wings would be great, he was _not_ looking forward to how painful it was going to be.

“Hey, what’s that for? Now the fastest flyer in your unit can fly even _faster,_ ” Terra said with a smirk. 

“It’s gonna hurt like hell…” Ven grumbled. He could still remember how his back was on fire that day, as if a monster raked their claws deep into his skin. He could remember the taste of the cloth around his mouth that he had bit into to muffle his screaming as his first pair of wings burst out of him, warm and wet. He let out a shudder when that memory appeared in his brain. 

“Don’t worry. It won’t hurt nearly as much as it did 4 years ago.” Terra said reassuringly as he took some bites. 

“It better…” He said. His fingers gripped his chair tightly. “That….ugh. I wouldn’t wish pain like that on my worst enemy.”

“It’s never easy. I passed out when my wings nested in initially. Thankfully they finished growing by the time I woke up. But you toughed it out better than I did.”

  
Ven snorted. “How? I was screaming my head off the entire time.”

“That’s still better than me, and it isn’t easy for anyone.” He shrugged. “Besides, it’d be perfect timing, what with exam season on the rise.”

  
“Yeah….about that…” Ventus said. He himself wasn’t nervous about his own archangel exam, but was more worried about Terra. “Um...are you um…” He fidgets with his shirt instead of continuing with what he was going to say. 

This earned a sigh from the older angel. “I’m fine, Ven. Plus, I’m not the only one who’s out and working their butt off.” He unceremoniously stabs his fork into the ambrosia. “Plus, Aqua already gave me an earful today…”

Ven deflates a little. “Sorry.” he mumbled. He didn’t want Terra to be upset or think that him and Aqua were babying him. He was just worried. 

“Hm? Ah...um, no it's ok. Don’t apologize.” He sighs again. “I just...really need to focus, that’s all.”

  
“Promise you’ll rest?” Ven’s voice was still small.

Terra smiled warmly. “I promise. Plus, I’m too achy to do anything right now.” 

“Yeah, I-”

Suddenly, they are interrupted by the loud sound of the clock tower outside. The blond sighs. Free time was over. 

“Guess that’s your cue,” Terra said. “I’ll be here if you need me.”

Aqua walks out with Ven’s tea. “Ah, shoot. Already?” She sets the cup down and turns to Ven. “I’ll let you drink this and get to work. Oh! And don’t forget to take your medicine.” She quickly ruffled his hair and leaned down to kiss his forehead, which Ventus always appreciates.

“Already took it,” Ventus said

“Hey, where’s my kiss?” Terra joked. Aqua rolls her eyes and goes over to kiss him, but before she does, she playfully punches his arm instead. Terra looked up at her with a dramatic wounded look plastered on his face. “Woman, why must you betray me!?”

This gets a laugh out of her. “Oh, quit being dramatic.” She pecked his cheeks with little kisses. 

“Ewwwwww, get a room!” Ventus yelled

  
Terra madd loud kissy noises at him. “Oh no, not dreaded kissing! What is Ventus to do?!”

“Oh hush!” He pretended to pout. 

“What am I going to do with you two?” Aqua said, shaking her head while smiling. “But seriously, I have to go. Don’t blow the castle up when I leave, the master left _me_ in charge after all.” 

She left the dining hall and made her way to the front halls of the castle. Ventus got up quickly with his tea to see her off. As she got past the courtyard and out to the boundaries of the floating landmass, her back glowed and her dark blue wings poofed into existence with a burst of light. She took a running start, and leapt off, tossed into the air.  
Ventus watched, happily sipping his tea. He scratched at his back again with one hand. 

_One day, I’m going to be just like her._ He thought. _A high ranking angel with enough power to help everyone._

He finished his tea and heads back inside. 

  
  


\----------------

The boy lay under the hot sun, which bit and nipped at his skin, even though he was wearing a cloak. The simulator for the mortal realm was quite realistic. A bit too much for his liking. He felt drained. How long had he been out there? Even he didn’t know. 

“Still being a lazy bum, eh?” A low voice said. A head of silver hair popped up in his view. 

He groaned and rolled over. “I did all you wanted, leave me alone….” He said. “Just let me lay here for 5 fucking minutes.”

“We didn’t take you under our wing just to hear _this,”_ He said with a low grumble, and lightly kicked at the boy’s side.

He yelped at the idea of steel-toed boot colliding with him and sat up, but he’s dizzy. “UUugh….were you really going to fucking kick me?!” he yelled.

“Language, boy.” The superior’s voice was colder than the abyss. “Now get up. You have more to do.”

“Oh _great._ ” He grumbled and he held his head as he got up, dizzy from the heat. “Where am I going now, dear leader?” 

“Twilight Town. There’s been trouble afoot in there, and you’re going to help the rest of your unit.”

The boy groans. “Great….that’s what I need. People to look at me funny.”

“I don’t care how they think of you, and neither should you. You’re above this, aren't you?” 

“Yeah yeah _yeah.”_ He grumbled and stretched. "Not like I have a choice, do I?"

His superior does not answer. 

"Who else is heading to Twilight Town?" He asked.

"The rest of your unit. Weren't you listening? Honestly…." 

"I mean who specifically!" He snapped. “There’s like 80 of us, sorry if I can’t keep track of them all.”

“That’s for you to find out when you get there,” the superior snarked. “Now hurry up. And don't forget your mask."

The boy grumbles and calls forth his raven-like wings. The three pairs of wings unfurled and stretched out fully wide, before folding slightly back. His vision darkens as his mask goes over his face. Now instead of just any angel, his ballroom-style mask completely hid him, and with it he once again was of the 13. With one last wary look at his superior, he hobbled back a bunch of steps, took a running start, and hurled himself to the air, though he wobbled a bit as he took off. When he was far enough in the air, he let out a huge sigh. _So much for taking a break today...Here’s hoping I have enough energy to do this. I’ll have to recharge lux the next moment I get._

He snapped his fingers, calling forth a portal to Twilight Town, and flies into it. 

  
  



	2. Searching for Shades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ventus' task for the day is to find an enemy known as a shade, an incorporeal being that can drain the soul energy of another being, and he meets someone very particular...

Ventus stretched out his wings and casually relaxed as the wind carried him to Twilight Town. He could see the blue sky slowly shift over to the warmth of amber and the happiness of pink. Twilight Town was nestled between light and dark, just like the Departed realm, as well as the realm that Never Was. He smiled gently as he looked into the sky, bathing under its radiance. As he got closer to the town, he could see other angels his rank and age, his unit. He saw some familiar faces, both his fellow wingsibling and some of the upper ranked angels, but not everyone was there. He held his arms out and tilted his body forward, descending to the sleepy town. He let out a small breath when he touched the ground, and then ran over to the others, going down Market Street to the Tram Common. He gently nudged past a few humans to get with his group. Standing next to him were Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. The three of them stood, arms linked together, almost a group of their own. In front of him was Zack and Selphie. 

"Hey um.." Ven said, looking around. "Where's everyone else?" 

"I guess the Owls didn't think it was serious enough to send out all the moths," Yuna said to him.

"Really?" Ven asked. "Why not? I mean….I checked my assignment on the forum today...there were seen reports of shades here. Aren't those bad enough to send out everyone?"

"Maybe the Elders thought it was a rumor? And we're just supposed to check things out?" Rikku piped up. "I mean, it makes sense. Why panic and waste time with a rumor? Especially when we could all be doing better things anyways….like getting trinkets." 

Ventus blinked. They're still trying to get whatever they see as treasure into their palms, huh? 

"Not so loud…." Yuna grumbled. "Otherwise Miss Aerith will hear us. She's gotta be somewhere nearby... Remember the last time she popped up out of nowhere and chastised us?" 

Ven elbowed Yuna. "Maybe if you guys focus on getting your work done today, she won't "yell" at you." 

She groaned. "But I can't help it...that accessory shop had a sale at that same time when we were on patrol! I just had to get something….It was the only time I could." 

Rikku chimed in. "Even when we pooled all of our munny together, we still couldn't get everything we wanted. There was this really pretty necklace-"

Suddenly, they're interrupted by the loud sound of someone clearing her throat. The Moth unit turned their attention over to their superior, Cloud.

"I think we have everyone here…" he quickly fished out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfurls it. His brows furrowed as he looked it over. "Oh! We're missing one more person…" 

And almost right on cue, Ven heard the flap of a pair of wings and in comes a mess of blond hair, who stumbles as he sticks the landing. 

The older angel looked up from his paper and grumbled. "Tidus… work on your landing, unless you wish to become one with the ground...other than that, we're all set." He crumples up the paper. "Now, you all may be wondering why some of you were called here, but not all. We've heard some rumors of our human allies that there was a sighting of a Shade," He sighed and shook his head. "And since we don't wish to alarm everyone or something, this will just be an investigatory session today. The higher ups decided that _this-_ " he gestured to the small pack of junior angels. "-Was enough angels in the Moth unit to help. For sniffing out a _shade_ of all things. I mean, it’s not like they are highly dangerous creatures that can drain the life energy that your heart depends on or something," he took out more notes from his pocket, casually flipping through them. After sighing for the 36th time in a row, he glanced up at them. "I'm sure all of you can handle walking around and checking on all interest points?"

All the moths nodded. It definitely seemed like just a rumor to keep everyone busy, if there were reports of a shade running around. If there were any truth to it, the place would be crawling with more experienced archangels.

Zack put a hand on his hip. 

"Maybe there _is_ no shade," He muttered. 

_"They're just going to work this opportunity into another chance at teaching us more diligence or something…"_ Ven thought. _"Disappointed, but not surprised."_

"Alright, I'll group everyone into pairs, but it looks like we have an uneven number of people, so one person will be by themselves. Each pair is in charge of going over a part of the town I marked on this map."

He held up a map, and pointed to different places around the town. All the places he pointed to are circled with different colors. 

"The pair checking on Station Heights will be Yuna and Selphie." He pointed to the blue circle for the upper portion of Market Street. Selphie smiles at Yuna, who returned with a slightly wary grin. She looked back at Rikku and Paine one last time before heading off with Selphie. 

"Checking on the Station Plaza will be Tidus and Zack." He pointed to the red circle. 

Tidus and Zack high five happily and they too get closer to each other. 

"Paine and Rikku will check the Sunset Terrace." He went all the way up to the place marked in purple. 

"Oh….that means…" Zack says, glancing at Ven.

Ventus sighed. He definitely prefers grouping up but if it was just a scouting mission, he could handle it.

Finally, Cloud turned to Ven, "Guess you're the odd one out today. So for that reason, you'll be doing things a little differently. You'll actually be checking inside the clock tower, and Tram Common here." 

Ventus put his hands behind his back. "Seems easy enough."

"Alright. I'll give you all about two hours, and then send your partner to report back. After that, 2 more hours, then another report. We might be here for a while, shades are very serious." His voice lowers to a grumble. "But you don't need _me_ to tell you that."

Ven crossed his arms, and pressed his lips together. " _He's right, everyone already knows that! When are they gonna start taking us seriously? We're angels just like them…."_

"Any questions?" He gave a cursory glance. 

"Wait...what if we really do run into a Shade?" Tidus asked. "Those are pretty uh...well you know…"

"Don't worry, Tidus. There's no way that one would be here, but if something does pop up _somehow_ , remember your training and protocol. You'll be alright." He basically handwaved the question. 

"Uh….ok then," he replied.

"Anyone else?" The older blonde haphazardly put away his notes. "No? Alright. Get to it then."

As each person scrambled off to get to their designated spot, Ven spread his wings and flits off to the clock tower. When he gets there, he looks in awe over just how tall the tower was. 

"I'm gonna be in here for a while…." He said. He walked around, checking to see if the maintenance doors were unlocked. He gave it a few tugs, and they did not pull open. 

"Well, good thing I got this!"

He held out his arm and summoned his keyblade. Wayward Wind appeared in his palm, and his fingers naturally curled over the hilt of his holy weapon. He aimed it at the door and it unlocks. 

"There we go."

He stepoed in, and the doors slammed shut behind him. He looked up, and saw a tall winding spiral staircase. The entire tower was covered from wall to wall in gears, and there were giant bells at the very top. 

_"Ok….I guess I'll just…"_

He called forth his wings, and ivory feathers unfurled, and curled slightly at the tips around him. The upper wing feathers were coppery, just like his keyblade. It was a tight fit, he'd have to powerfully thrust upward and then cast a wind spell to hover. 

Or….

He could use the stairs. 

…

He sighed when he finally reached the stairs. It took longer, but it was more practical. 

_"Still no shade in sight…."_

He took a short walk around the parts of the clock faces. 

_"Why did Cloud even send me in here?"_

He peeked over the platform. Nope. Nothing. He was the only one th-

_BONG! BONG! BONG!_

The entire floor shook with every ring of the bell. 

"Woah!" Ven exclaims. He wobbles as he looks around for something to grab on. Once it's in his sight, he quickly reaches out and tightly grips a nearby workbench. He looked at the clock faces. It was… 1:26?! 

_"Well that makes no sense... don't clocks only ring at the next hour?!"_

Unless the Shade was here and disrupted the movement of the clock bells, Ven didn't have any idea as to what was up with it, nor did he know enough about clocks to possibly fix it. 

His ears perked up at the sound of the doors unlocking and he went to another side of the platform. He looks and sees that someone is opening the door. From what the person wore, their overalls slightly stained in oil, Ven figures they most likely did maintain the clocktower.

"Um...hello!" Ventus called to the person below. 

The person didn't answer. Instead, he was walking around almost aimlessly throughout the first floor. He seemed to have some spring in his step, and wobbled with each step he took. 

Ventus tilts his head, a little confused. Did he not hear him? 

"Hi!" He says louder. "Hello the-"

The person snaps his head up, wide green and blue eyes staring right at the blond. "Eh? Oh! Hello!"

It startled him a little, but he was glad the person could hear him. "Um...sorry if I'm disturbing you!" He bowed politely, "I was told to check for umm…"

He didn't want to freak the human out, but all humans in Twilight Town _were_ allowed to know of angel business. "...a Shade. But! It should be ok!"

"A Shade, eh?" He shrugs as he climbs the stairs. "Hope it wasn't the reason why this ol gal is a bit off her rocker." He lets out a chuckle. "She hasn’t rung off-key like this in years." 

"I wonder what's wrong?" 

"Ahh, maybe something is up with her. I can easily take a look. I'm not going to disturb your Shade hunting, am I?"

He shook his head. 

"Well, I'll take care of it. Don't you worry, young man." He looks around, and scratches his head. "By the way, they have you by yourself, looking for a shade?"

Ventus puts his hands behind his back. "It's no sweat, plus it's not like the others _really_ think a shade is here. Why else would I be out here? Plus, a bunch of other angels are scattered all over town, so I'm not that alone." 

"Still, that's awfully brave. A youngin like yourself sent after a shade." He whistles, and goes over to the workbench, placing a bunch of tools on the front surface from the side. "Didn't know moths could fight them now. You must be very capable."

Ven scoffs. "Not at all. Our mission coordinators don't really think there are any shades here, so that's why we're out here. I may be a fast flyer….but I'm kinda lousy at everything else." He lets out a dry laugh. He wasn't exactly the heaviest hitter or the most powerful spellcaster that he knew. He has his speed, and most of the time that was all he needed. 

"Just a speedster, eh? You don't have one of those fancy angel weapons of yours?" He puts more tools on the table.

"Yeah! I have a keyblade, of course." He briefly summons Wayward. "Cool, huh?" He said, gripping it tightly and making sure to show all of his weapon's angles. 

The clock worker stared at it for a bit, and looked it over. "Well isn't she a beauty," he muses quietly. "How long have you had her?"

"Four years!" Ven says proudly as he calls Wayward away. Though it disappears from sight, he always knows where it is, and it can be called back at a moment's notice. "And soon I'll be training for the next level exams. I'm gonna make sure I do my best."

The clock worker chuckles. "If I could, I'd talk to you all day but I definitely would bother you all. Bah, angels these days are always so busy…"

The young man let out a smile. "Yeah, for one, this place is huge, and it isn't easy running a place where humans and angels can coexist. Thiiiink they started it about the same time I started my training." 

Twilight Town was indeed an experimental part of Limbo. After the owls built it, they called many a human to its walls. Those who answered lived among beings of feathers and light, all under the watchful eyes of the owls, the governing branch of the angels. They were a group of five, rarely seen in the public unless things were very dire.

“Hmm,” he let out a low laugh. “Then you must be really young...” 

Ventus nodded. “I may be young….but I’m going to do my best! I don’t want anyone making it easy for me!” he turned around to start leaving. “Anyways, I-”

“Oh I don’t know….” _Clang!_

Startled, Ventus turned around to see that he had slammed his tools down. The metal clattered around on the ground. He looked up at the man, and this time, he took a good long look at him. 

“Um….are...are you...l-looking alright?”

How was it that Ven just now saw how pale the man looked, how his skin was more like shiny paper mache, or even cellophane, that gathered around various areas of his face. His blue and green eyes were mosquito-bite sized, darting everywhere, looking the young angel up and down. As much as Ven wanted to look away, he felt like those eyes kept his body completely rooted in its place. Something churned in his stomach and set off his breathing. 

“Y-You know what, I think I h-hear my supervisor calling, I’m just going to-”  
  


“Not going…...anywhere.” The stranger lurched backwards and blue energy burst out of his body. Rising from its host was the very parasite that Ven had been tasked to “find.” Well, he sure found it alright. The shade took the form of a human shaped silhouette, before said shape melted, becoming a wide mess of differing eyes, ears, a mess of limbs jutting out in every corner, as if someone took a couple of humans and sewed them together blind folded.

Ven gasped and backed up, brandishing his keyblade. He was moving backwards, everything inside him was screaming at him to _get out!_ As he sprinted backwards, his foot slipped off the first stair. He yelped and tried to balance, holding his arms out, but the fall was inevitable. He tumbled, falling and hitting almost every flight of stair downwards. He summoned his wings and cushioned his fall, but now he was at the bottom. His heart pounded into his ribcage, and he got up, only for something very cold and clammy to grab his ankle. He had only a few nanoseconds to think until _wham!_ He was slammed to the ground. He briefly unsummoned his wings and flipped himself over, and held his blade to hopefully cut himself free from whatever had grabbed him. He looked at his ankle. A heavy-looking chain that softly glowed azure was holding him down. Said chain of course led to the top of the stairs. When he reached up to cut himself, a sinister laugh floated down the stairwell. The stranger’s body leaped down, puppeted around by the Shade.   
  


“Wasn’t that….cute?” the Shade said. Its gritty, metallic voice made Ven want to curl up and clench his stomach. 

“L-Let me go...Let me go!” He threw Wayward at him, and the poltergeist easily caught it. 

The Shade smirked, and snapped its fingers. The chain around Ventus’ ankle tightened, snapping his body back to the ground, and he let out a pain-filled scream. 

_“It...m-my ankle...my-!”_

He screamed again, this time, it felt like his waist was being stabbed by an army of knives. A burning sensation followed, and then the warm trickle of blood. He looked down, and to his horror, row after row after row of thorns snaked around his chest, piercing into his skin. This time, instead of blue energy, it was green.

Another similar figure appeared from the physical body, radiating viridian light. “A little runt of an angel? On ouuuur dooooorstep?”   
This was a different voice. This voice was more honeyed, more sickly sweet. 

_Sh-Shit... there's two…._

"G-Get off me…." Ven whispered. His breathing was shallow. "Just…. there's no point... you're s-surrounded by angels...someone will know I'm here and….and th-then you'll be sorry!"

"Hmmm, you're right, little little one with feathers. I do suppose someone will definitely check on the poor bird, all by himself." It lets out a snort.

"I-I…..I mean it….ggng…" he tried to pull off the thorns, but they pricked at his hands, tearing his skin open easily. 

“We’ve wasted enough time…” the blue one growled. It let a series of infernal noises that sounded like two slabs of metal grinding together. 

Ven clenched his teeth as he felt like his head would be split down the middle. He looked up and suddenly gasped, as particles of light started appearing in the air, all leaving from his body. He lifted his arm to grab at them, but he could barely support its weight. It fell back to his side, absolutely useless. 

_“No….they’re….they’re taking my…”_

“Help me…” he whispered, hoping to the bottom of his heart that someone, _anyone,_ could hear him. As more and more of his soul flowed out, he felt more and more lethargic. The colors in his vision started to go gray. The warmth in his body fled as well. 

“Hey, this one is actually-” 

They are interrupted by a sudden blast of darkness that strikes the two of them. The two shades cry out in alarm as they’re blown back to a far off wall by the force.

Ventus gasps, as his energy returns to him and his soul is whole once more. The binds around him starts to loosen, and he slowly wriggles free. He sits up and looks around. “Who...Where did that…”

He senses another presence behind him, and his eyes widen in surprise.   
Standing in the doorway, it was an angel. Ven wanted to guess that it was someone his age, but he couldn’t tell. They seemed to be wearing a cloak of darkness, his face was hidden under an elaborate, almost ballroom-type mask. Not one..not two...but three pairs of wings unfolded from their back.   
Ven raised his eyebrows.It must be a high ranked angel...but he’s never seen him before.   
Yet, deja vu sat there with him. “ _No….I’m sure I’ve never seen him before…”_ _  
_ He continues to stare at this mysterious angel.   
“ _….Right?”_

  
  



	3. Fire so Red, Dark as Night

"Mistake number one," the mysterious angel said. He fiddled with his mask as he stared down the shades. 

Ven's eyes widened. His voice....It sounded familiar. It reminded him of melted dark chocolate. It was slightly bitter, and had a rasp at the end of each word. 

"You made the mistake of coming here, to this sleepy town, with humans and winged ones traipsing about. Second mistake. The two of you shared one vessel. No way will two shades ever get along enough to not give themselves away. Third mistake." His keyblade is in his hand in an instant. He drags it up from the floor before raising it over his head. 

"Your third mistake? You made too much noise, and now you're pissing me off." 

Ventus' skin is pricked by the sudden feeling of a wave of heat. " _ What was this all of a sudden? It's like it's gotten hotter..."  _

"What's with this one?" The blue shade said. "Something about him stinks."

"Shut up already," the angel said. "Alright, now you really pissed me off. Just shut up!"

Quick as lightning, he rushed at the two shades, slicing faster than Ven's eyes could follow. The two shades cried out in surprise, not expecting his speed. The blue one raised his chains and aimed right for the boy, but they were no match for him.

"Ha. You're slow." he remarked, and seemed to almost be teleporting around the place, slashing at the two flawlessly. He was there at one point, only to be gone the next, faster than light.

The shades both screeched in anger, which made Ven shut his ears. On and on they took the assault, and the strange boy seemed to be winning, until-

"ENOUGH!" both the shades yelled, pulsing out a large wave of energy, knocking the boy back. He landed right into the wall, and coughed.

Ventus' heart dropped to his chest. He couldn't just watch as this happened!

Gritting his teeth through the pain, he wrestled with the thorns holding him down. They sliced his hands open effortlessly and they were soon stained red with his blood. But he didn't care. He had to help....he had to help-

He hears the boy's yelp of pain, and his blood rushes around, his heart wants to break out of his ribs. He rips the thorns off of him and yanks his leg free of the chain. Then, he turns towards the two shades advancing near the boy. A rush of adrenaline flees to his throat, and a noise comes out.

Not a noise, actually. But a word. A  _ name. _

The other boy jolts when he hears Ventus' voice.

All the nerves in his body command him to look forward and power surges through him. Dark magic swirls around his body and he cries out, spreading out three pairs of wings, black as a raven's.

Ventus backed up instinctively. Master Eraqus had told him years ago that he mustn’t ever get near darkness. It would be too toxic for his body in particular. But then, when Ventus gazed a little more at him, he almost felt compelled to approach him The boy sounded like he was his age, and they were almost matched in height, yet he vastly outranked him, and used dark magic wildly.

“Get….off of me!” the other angel yells, and firey magic swerves and flows out of him, enveloping the two shades in flames. Their screams echoed throughout the tower, until the sudden toll of the bells drowned them out. More fire shot out of his body, until they burned out; and dark, smoke-like magic swirled around him once more. The green one let out a guttural screech, as flames licked and and ate at its form, until it was completely engulfed. 

Ven’s eyes went to the blue one, who was covered in soot, and despite everything, it rose up once more like a viper, waiting to strike. 

“Not on my watch!” Ven exclaims. His keyblade comes to him in an instant, and he thrusted up, and dove at the blue shade, slicing quickly and effectively across its form.

“N-No!” the shade cried, and it too dissipated into nothingness. Ventus huffed and puffed, and he slowly landed down. His legs buckled under his weight and he yelped in pain, having forgotten about his ankle. “Ow…” he groaned. “Well...At least they’re gone,” he turned to look at the other masked boy, and gave him a friendly smile. “Oh and thank you for….saving me. Wait..how did you even reali-”

He was interrupted when all of a sudden, he was grabbed up by his collar, and slammed heavily against a wall. He cried out when the wall pounded his back and head. He grabbed at the arm that pinned him, and was surprised to see it was the same masked boy who had saved him.

Under the holes of his elegantly decorated mask, Ventus could see his eyes narrow. 

“Why…” the boy hissed. “Why did you say that name?” 

“H-Huh?” Ventus asked. “Wh-What name…”

“Don’t fucking lie to me! You said that name, just now, when those two fucking shades wanted me to eat shit. Why did you say it?!”

Ventus eventually let go of his arm, since his hands felt like they were going to come apart. 

“I...I know I screamed something out to you when you were pinned, but I-I can’t remember! A-And why are you- L-Let me go!” He kicked at him and spread his wings out to try and dislodge himself, but the angel held him tighter.

“ _ Vanitas.  _ My name. You said it. I’ve….I’ve never seen you in my life. To you, I shouldn’t  _ exist. _ Yet you said my name. Who are you, and how the fuck do you even know me?!”

_ “Vanitas…?”  _ Ven wondered. The name was familiar. But he wasn’t sure why. He never met this boy before. He’s sure of it, and yet, he said the boy’s name, and his voice sounded familiar. And he definitely wasn’t sure why he had on a mask or dressed in all black, or why he had 3 massive pairs of wings as dark as the void. It wasn’t like any other angel’s wings he’d ever seen. Others had color to them. Aqua’s were a magnificent dark metallic blue, while Terra’s were a warm brown, speckled with bright orange. But dark wings, wrapped in rusty chains, with gears hanging off the ends?

“L-Look….I-I don’t know why or how I know your name….you were in danger and...it was like my mind had gone blank...I could only think about how hurt you were and how I wanted to do something about it. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know why I said your name.” 

Vanitas let out a low grumble, and then dropped Ventus without saying another word. Ventus fell to the ground and yelped again in pain, having landed with his bad ankle. The other boy turned to him. 

“Did you get roughed up by those shades that badly?” he sneered. “You need more training, definitely.”  His eyes flashed and in the blink of an eye, four of his wings were concealed. 

“Ow….Did you have to throw me down that hard? And besides, so what if I somehow know your name, or...or wait a second. How did you even get here? How did you know I was in trouble?”

Vanitas scratched his chin. “I dunno. I just had this feeling inside me and I just rushed here. Ugh, if this makes me your babysitter, I’m going...to be fucking pissed.” He yawned and leaned against the wall, as adrenaline finally left him, only to be replaced with absolute exhaustion. He plopped on the ground, breathing heavily. 

Ventus huffed and looked away. “Well, you didn’t have to be so rude about it! Seriously, what’s ya problem? I didn’t even do anything to you!”

“Well first of all, if you weren’t so injured, I would have decked you in the face already, pretty boy. You’re getting on my nerves.” 

“If that’s so, then why don’t you just leave? There’s no more shades, and you don’t have any reason to be here anymore. And you’re getting on my nerves too!” He rubbed at his ankle, which had swollen up a lot. “Shit...here’s hoping it will heal fast…” He then looked at his waist, and his hands. They were cut up, yes, but thankfully they were already healing quickly. Angel bodies were more sturdy than humans, but this didn’t make them immune to damage. But what they also had was a connection to a wellspring of pure light energy, known as lux, that can recharge them and speed up their energy.

Vanitas huffed and puffed. “I’m way too fucking  _ tired. _ I’m already on my last reserves of lux and I just saved your ass from two fucking shades. Speaking of, how the fuck did they get into Twilight Town?”

Ventus shrugged. “I don’t know! It should be impossible...this place is well built and guarded by angels.”

“They’re attracted here cause of all the fucking humans. Maybe they think they’re premium quality cause all us are around them. Add the fact that there are little chicks like you, of course some of them would take the risk to be here.”

“I guess so...wait, did you call me a chick?” 

Vanitas picked at his nails. “You were almost soul breakfast.”

“Those were pretty dangerous shades!” Ven protested. “And besides, you’re way higher leveled than me- Oh forget it, talking to you is making me more tired…” He looks over at the human that the poor shades had taken over. “Oh shit! Right….” He gets on his knees and knee-walks over to the person, hoping to the bottom of his heart that he was alright. 

“Don’t bother. He’s probably dead.” Vanitas got up and padded over to the person. 

“Don’t say that! We still have to help him.” Ventus set him upwards on his back against the wall and checked him over. The human looked absolutely  _ exhausted, _ to the point where anxiety started to rapidly swell up in Ventus’ stomach.  _ “What if...What if Vanitas is right? He had two powerful shades inside him...It would be a miracle if they didn’t both drain him completely…” _

His heart hurt for the poor victim. His skin was almost an ashy gray, his clothes were messy and unkempt, most definitely his ankles were shattered from the several foot drop the shades made him do, and though Ven sensed life within him, but instead of a steady flow of vitality, it was just a trickle. 

The angel laid his hands on the human, and they started to softly glow. He bit his lip as he tried to concentrate. 

_ “I know I’m not the best at healing, or any type of magic, but please…” _

Sweat started to form and bead down his forehead. He pushed more magic to his fingertips, hope ablaze in his heart. He smiled when the human’s skin started to show more color, and that his breathing had deepened. But the young angel couldn’t keep up a steady stream of magic for very long. His hands flickered and went out. 

“Ugh….shit…” he sighed.

He looked up and looked right into Vanitas’ eyes. The other boy had been watching him silently, it seemed. Ventus’ nerves became unsettled and he looked away. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I can’t do magic that well...Healing and light mending is all I can do, really.”

The other boy tilted his head. “How weak are you?”

Ventus huffed heavily through his nostrils, and they flared out. “Look, at least I tried something, ok?! It’s better than just leaving him be! I know I’m not the best, but I want to always try my best! I still...I still got my speed anyways, if nothing else.” 

“Calm down. I’m just observing. And if you yourself say that you aren’t capable, why are you being defensive?”

“Because it's still rude to point it out!” Ventus exclaimed. “I’m doing my best to help him...you’re not even doing anything! It’s like...It’s like you don’t care.”

Vanitas’ eyes narrowed. “You don’t know jack  _ shit  _ about me. Think about it this way, dumbass. He’s heavily injured. You got jack shit for magic, you’re not a Sylph, you’re not a Star Seer, you’re a fucking moth who thinks he can do everything by himself and that’s why you almost got killed if not for me!”

“You think I  _ chose  _ to be out here myself?! I was assigned this spot, ok?! I just happened to be here, and they caught me off guard! It’s not my fault! And there’s no reason to be  _ this  _ hostile to me!” His hands curl into fists and he seriously contemplates punching this boy in the face, even though he could probably kick his ass for that. Though he was tired, he was still a way stronger angel than Ven. 

“Whatever. I’m just telling you how I see it. There’s no point in wasting your magic on him when you should be focused on stabilizing him as best as you can and also going and getting help.” 

Ventus breathed in and out in a desperate attempt to keep himself calm. “Then…. _ why don’t you do that?”  _ His voice was icy. 

Vanitas shrugged. “For one, I’m too tired to move, and I saved your life, so my end is done. You said you were assigned here, so what do you think you should do, hm?”

Ventus groaned. “You are so insufferable…” He spread out his wings and he hovered to the door. He turned back to Vanitas. “Look, you’re...at least going to stay here with him… right?”

“Not like I have a choice.” 

He groaned again and kicked lightly, pushing the doors open until he was outside. He floated up and then glided down back to where they were all supposed to meet. He grumbled to himself as he thought about the strange dark-haired boy, his supposed savior, who had also antagonized him to Kingdom Come. 

_ “Ugh, if this makes me your babysitter, I’m going to be fucking pissed.” _

_ “How weak are you?” _

_ “You’re a fucking moth who thinks he can do everything by himself and that’s why you almost got killed if not for me!”  _

_ “That’s not true!”  _ Ven argued back in his head.  _ “So what if I’m not the best at magic? So what if I’m so ‘weak’? I’ll get stronger! I will! I’ve at least improved from the four years of training...I couldn’t even summon my keyblade before all of this...So what does he know about me and my struggles? He’s such a jackass…” _

He saw everyone gathered near the midpoint, all in a circle, with Cloud. Had it already been two hours?

He landed down on his good foot and he wobbled to keep balance on it. Any and all voices he heard from the others fell completely silent. He felt like he was being examined closely, like some sort of science project, with all the pairs of eyes on him. 

Cloud is at his side immediately. “Kid..hey! What the hell happened to you?” he asked, as he gazed at Ven’s bloodstained clothing. 

“W-Well…” Ven stammered. “Th-There was a shade! Two, actually. And they possessed this guy who worked the clock tower! And then….then they attacked me, but someone came to save me! His name….”

Ventus was definitely about to say his name. The letters formed on his tongue and he was going to send them out, but he felt anxiety breathe down his neck and kick up a storm in his stomach. Saying that name,  _ Vanitas,  _ It felt strange to him. Coupling that with the reaction that the boy gave him, it was almost like he had found something forbidden, to be locked away once more.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. 

Ventus sheepishly grinned. “I-I must have forgotten it.”

“Nevermind about that!  _ Two _ shades?! Shit….I’m sorry. This was all on my watch.” Cloud immediately took off towards the clocktower. “One of you, stay with Ven.” 

Zack waved his hand in the air. “Don’t worry, I got him! You guys go follow!”

The other moths took worrying glances at Ven, before taking off to follow their teacher. 

Ven groaned and fell to the ground, both mentally and physically exhausted. Zack can’t help but chuckle, and he fell to his side right next to him.

“So. Gimme the deets. What happened?! How’d you run into two shades?! How strong were they? Did they try to suck your life juice? And who did you say saved you?”

“Zaaaaaaaack,” Ventus groaned. “One at a time. I was checking the tower, then this guy comes in. Then, two shades popped out of me and…”

He remembered the sensation of his soul being siphoned out of him, and he shuddered. 

“It...It was like...like all the colors in the world were being sucked away. I was getting so sleepy, and it was hard to speak, hard to even think.” 

Zack sat up, and frowned. “Geez...That’s terrifying…”

“Y-Yeah. It was like I was losing myself.”

“I’ve never heard of a shade going after angels before…” Zack said softly. 

“Me neither, but maybe that’s why they only let us look around Twilight based on a rumor. I mean, it sounded impossible, right? Shades? Here? Of course they’ll let us look around.”

“Yeah,” Zack said. “I mean, This place is so much safer...Why would any shade even want to come here?”

Ventus shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t even know  _ how _ they could come here.” He stares at his hands. “And they’re so ruthless...They could have shredded me apart if not for…”

His thoughts naturally wander to that boy, with the face veiled by a mask, wearing the night, wings that could shame the blackest void. He can’t help but scowl once more when he thinks about what he had spat out to him.    
“If...If not for this boy. He was like us, an angel but...I’ve never seen him before. But...I knew his name, I keep getting deja vu. Maybe...Maybe I’ve met him, maybe I haven’t. Then, he flipped out when I said his name, and he wouldn’t help me heal the human that the shades took over, saying it was a waste or whatever.”

Zack grimaced. “He sounds like an asshole. But he still saved you?”

“Yeah...he’s so weird…” Ven said. “I can’t figure him out at all.”

“What  _ is  _ his name then?” 

Ventus blinked softly. Whenever he thought of the name,  _ Vanitas,  _ he couldn't help but feel...anxious, angry, and a little bit...sad. It wasn’t a significant amount of sadness, but it was still there, a single blue flower amongst the grass. But he wasn’t sure why. Why would he feel sad about someone like him?    
Maybe he was having a bad day, or week, or year. Maybe he too had the same feeling of deja vu that kept poking and prodding at Ventus, and he was frightened by it. But whatever the reason was, he couldn’t ignore that flower of sadness. When he went to try and quash it, or even uproot it in his mind altogether, it definitely wasn’t going anywhere, much to his frustration. 

_ “Why does it even matter? Maybe I’ll be lucky and I’ll never have to see him again.” _

But such a thought like that did not completely satisfy the boy either. It felt like he was going against something, like something in his mind told him that there was something else going on. 

_ “Well, whatever it is, I would have no clue. All I know is that he’s an absolute jerk, whether he saved me or not. And that’s that.” _

“Hey, speaking of which, maybe we should get you to a Sylph. You look pretty busted up still. And I dunno, maybe they left something funky inside you after trying to suck you dry.” Zack put a hand on his shoulder. 

The blond nodded, and held his hand out so Zack could help him up. Zack got up first and then hoisted Ven up. 

“Sheesh. They busted your ankle real bad.” 

“Yeah, and one of them had thorns that cut me everywhere. But those don’t hurt that bad. Well, they kind of sting if I shift side to side, and I...I think some of them are still in there? I hope not…” he winced sharply as he moved around, feeling for when the stinging started up. When he veers to his side as much as he could, that’s when he got a hot flash of pain. “Ow...yep, there it is.” His hands had also stopped bleeding, but they were covered in blue and green residue from the shade’s energy, as well as a few barbs that stuck out of his palms. 

“Yikes, dude! Seriously…Oh! Look!” He pointed upwards and Ventus followed his finger. Cloud and the other Moths were back, as well as three other teachers. The human victim from the tower was being airlifted by two of the adult angels, while the third followed behind them. 

When everyone landed, Cloud spoke up. 

“Alright, everyone is dismissed early, because, well, you know.” He shrugged and then turned toward Ventus. “The clockworker is safe now, don’t worry. I’ll escort you back to Scala to a Sylph.”

“Um…” Ventus spoke up. “Would it be alright if I headed back to Departure? It’s where I live and stuff...and one of my friends is in charge there, Aqua. I mean…” He bites down on his lip briefly before continuing. “I mean, I know she’s not a Sylph, but her magic is really powerful and-”

“Though I get it, it's better if we head to Scala.” Cloud crossed his arms. “You may think you’re fine now, but who knows what else they did to you, and I don’t want any more surprises on our hands.” As he walked off, he started to snicker. “Besides, those Sylphs aren’t gonna hurt you. I’ll even direct you to one of my best friends. She’s the best healer out of all of them, hands down.”

“Are you only saying that because she’s the one who’s extra sweet on you?” one of the older angels pipes up. 

Cloud glares at them. “Shut up.”

Zack and Ventus called together all the composure they could muster so that they didn’t snicker in Cloud’s range. Cloud looked at Ventus, waiting for him to take off first. 

“Hm…? Oh! Right.” It was a little bit difficult, since Ventus could not do a running start, but he had just enough energy to push upwards and fly. His teacher took off right after him, and held his hand to help him stay afloat. 

“Don’t worry, I got ya.” He said gently, and the two of them flew upwards, until Twilight Town was nothing but a speck.

Ventus sighed happily when the cool wind of the upper sky blew past his face. He tugged for Cloud to let go, and when he did, the moth couldn’t help but do a few spirals in the air, and circle around his teacher. He was too tired to do anything else, but it was enough to satisfy him. He smiled brightly, his previous grievances couldn’t keep up with him any longer. There was nothing better than dancing with the sky and becoming one with the clouds. But even as high as he was, he thought back to Vanitas, and decided to ask the older blond about him.

“Did you guys run into someone with dark wings? He was with the human when I left.”

Cloud shook his head. “No one was there except the clockworker. But, I did feel an awful lot of dark angelic magic, so whoever you were talking about, he wasn’t gone long.”

He presses his lip into a thin line. He was disappointed, but he wasn’t surprised.    
_ “Of course he bounced, the jackass.” _

“You holding up alright? It won’t be long till we get to Scala.”

Ventus nodded. “I’m alright. I’m just…hanging in there. I’m pretty tired, but I can still keep afloat.”

“Good and...I’m sorry I left you out to dry like that. The only info I was given was the  _ possibility  _ of a shade. The fact that I messed up this badly…” He shakes his head. “Absolutely no excuse.”

“It’s ok! Besides...you didn’t know.” Ven went and pat his arm reassuredly. Though it was a very frightening event, he held no ill will towards his teacher. 

“Still. You got hurt under my watch. That’s unacceptable.” He shook his head.

“R-Really, you don’t have to feel bad…” Ventus said very softly. He never liked it when others felt guilty for his own shortcomings. 

The rest of the flight was silent, until the gleaming white towers and windmills of Scala ad Caelum were visible in view, as well as the glittering ocean. Though Ventus looked around in awe, it didn’t feel as cozy as Departure did. With the way there were so many buildings, all connected together, to him, it looked awfully crowded and clustered. 

Cloud led them to a citadel, and they landed at the base.

“Sylphs are up that way,” He said. “How’s your leg?”

“Uhh….Still a little swollen,” Ventus replied, while he was wobbling on one foot.

“Here.” Cloud offered his arm and weight for balance support, which Ventus took. They made their way up to the rooms where the Sylphs were. Each of them had their own room, their own workspace. 

Cloud looked at all the room headers, and slowly walked his student towards the one where his friend was stationed. He went up to her room, and knocked.    
“Aerith? Are you in here?” He called.

The door creaked open, and a young woman’s face peered out at them from the crack. Ventus made eye contact with a friendly pair of emerald green eyes. The door opened wider, and she dusted off her billowy skirt. When she looked up, she had a smile as warm as the sun. 

“Cloud! Long time no see.” She tilted her head as she gazed at the younger blond. “Who’s this? One of your students?”

He nodded. “Yeah, this is Ventus. He ran into some trouble earlier...do you have enough time to help him?”

“Of course, it’s not like this is my job description or anything,” she says, then rolls her eyes, still keeping that smile. “Hello Ventus.” 

“Oh um…call me Ven!” 

“Alright, Ven it is.” She opened her door wider. “Come on in!”

  
  



	4. Angelus in Tenebris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another side, another story. Vanitas decides to take a break after being forced to defend Ventus from a pair of Shades. While he walks throughout an abandoned land he calls home, he's plagued by intrusive thoughts that propel him towards the abyss.

The young angel stared out the window from his tiny room as he always did. He felt like all of Limbo was staring back at him, with eyes riddled with judgement. 

He got up from the windowsill and stretched. His muscles still ached like no tomorrow and it was still a struggle to get up even after recharging his energy, but most likely his dearly beloved  _ superior  _ would have more work for him still. He stepped out of his room without even giving an ounce of attention to his untamed hair. What was the point when it was going to be covered when he went outside anyways? 

He went to the top of the stairs, spread out one pair of his wings, and floated down all the way to the bottom. He didn’t bother calling the other pairs out unless he needed to fly somewhere. It gave him less stares even though, in the long run, with feathers as blackened as his were, he still got many curious looks. 

Angels that cast with darkness were very few, and very rare. After all, beings made from the light commanded power with, well, light. Dark magic was usually for emergencies, for negating light. Or at least, that’s what others were taught. For Vanitas, that’s all he had. And with a lot of training, dark magic could be as potent as light. But, it was extremely volatile and chaotic. Light was stuffy and straightforward, not even a newbie could mess things up with it. But darkness? Using that was like getting into a dance. The average, naive angel would expect a waltz, but the music will change on them, turning into a samba. Light magic was one thing, but darkness in the wrong hands could spell trouble. It was fine for the uppers to have use of it; Avocets (teachers and masters), Shrikes (best of the best soldiers, and light forbid you ever forget it), Owls (those stuffy assholes who stand around and write arbitrary rules), and the Cardinals, (5 supreme assholes that lorded over all the other assholes). But run of the mill angels? Forget it. 

_ “If we’re being technical, I’m supposed to be a regular ol’ angel, maybe close to being an archangel. But…”  _

3 pairs, for a young one like him, was definitely impossible. It wasn’t the only thing that should be impossible with him, but those three pairs were the most blatant. His  _ superior  _ always dictated to him to be careful about his wings, be careful about his powers, never draw too much attention to himself when he was out with others, over and over again. But those simple rules were violated earlier today all because of…

_ Him. _

Blond hair, golden as sunlight, green planet eyes, and a soft spoken voice that could drive any creature mad. Put them all together and there was something that could be all of Vanitas’ undoing. 

“ _ Ugh! Stop thinking about that stupid idiot!”  _ he commanded himself, but there wasn’t much use. Not only did he trigger some type of fiery power inside Vanitas, that boy… … he seemed very familiar, as if he’d seen him almost every day, but that was impossible. When he ventured out to Twilight Town for the first time, whatever people he saw that day, he was able to quickly forget their faces. But not his. His stupid, freckled, tanned face was burned into his mind, and he couldn’t even escape him under the rare treat of sleep. He had laid down earlier, and sleep had whisked him away, into the realm of unconsciousness. But something was different this time. Visions, actual visions moved through his head. 

_ “Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought… _ ” He had thought initially. But when he woke up, he could still remember them. It was like a dream, but angels don’t casually visit the realm of dreams like humans do. In his “dream”, he was falling, falling as fast as angelically possible. He tried to move his wings, move his legs, scream, do  _ something. _ But he couldn’t. He could only fall until he plunged into a pool of infinite darkness. And as those visions faded, he heard a voice. It was soft, it was warm, and even though there was nothingness all around him, he didn’t feel so alone. The voice told him to rest, and assured him that they would come to pull him back into the light. That voice...was  _ his _ . That blond weak brat who couldn’t bash two Shades even if his life depended on it.    
When he woke up, that warm feeling still lingered in his bones, until reality fell back onto him. 

Not only would no one come to pull him out of whatever, it certainly wouldn’t be that stupid pretty boy and his stupid face that he definitely wanted to deck.   
  


_ “Eugh. Enough about him. I’m probably going to be so busy today anyways that I’ll eventually forget him.” _

He wandered to the common room of the house, and looked around briefly.  _ “Empty? Huh. Usually that bastard would be around here somewhere sipping on tea or practicing some dumb monolougue.” _

His superior, Xemnas, was one of the few he knew, and the one he was the least afraid of. The man barely talked outside of when they were training or when he was being lectured at for hours on end. For four years, he was under his constant watch, whether he liked it or not.

He waited a little bit more for the sound of his heavy footsteps, a sound that most certainly filled the young boy with dread. But still there was nothing. 

_ “Huh. Wonder where he fucked off to.” _

It wouldn’t matter to him in the long run anyways. As long as he was  _ gone,  _ that’s all that mattered. 

_ “Well, since he’s gone…” _

He would most likely be out for the whole day, if it was anything like the last rare times he left without saying a word. Vanitas went out of the room and down a long, dimly lit hall that would lead to the foyer and front door. When he got to it, he saw a note plastered on the front. 

_ “I’ll be back. Focus on training today. Focus on your technique. Your keyblade moves are still sloppy. Do better.  _

_ “I can hear his voice in my head,”  _ Vanitas internally grumbled.  _ “Asshole. He can forget it. I’m taking the day off. Besides! My keyblade technique is fine!” _

After getting his bag and putting his cloak and mask on, he moved to throw open the door, but he hesitated. How long should he be gone? Xemnas could return at any point, and it was hard to keep track of time…

Anxiety started to bear down on him. He could come back too late, and Xemnas would be  _ very  _ angry with him. Xemnas doesn’t get angry. Xemnas is usually quiet and terse. When he starts scowling, that’s when he starts to get majorly upset. And when he raises his voice, he’s most certainly angry. And when he  _ really  _ gets upset-

_“Just stop!”_ He told himself. His hands shook while he gripped the giant handles. _“I already know...stop reminding me…”_   
It was going to be fine. And if not, well, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t manage. 

And though anxiety forced his heart to beat faster, he threw open the large doors. 

The Land that Never Was was a large city with unfinished buildings that could reach Scala. Vanitas never felt unnerved by the deafening silence of the streets, or the dark sky that always loomed overhead. To many angels, the place was an abandoned concept of paradise, a place that was to never be their home. But for the young angel, it  _ was  _ home. Of course, no one knew that. Twilight Town was the first time he was out and about, especially without Xemnas. Usually he’d only go to the human realm with him, but this time, Xemnas had wanted him to go to Twilight Town, to see if he could help out with the town’s little problem for some reason. He still wasn’t sure. Said problem turned out to be some actual genuine shades. Vanitas didn’t know how they got into a place like Twilight Town, and he didn’t care too much. 

_ “Maybe they need to beef up their security.”  _ he grumbled as he continued walking. 

He stepped to another street and it was still quiet. Not even Shades were here. And without much to look at, other than the unmarked vacant shops and random trinkets littering the street, the boy found himself alone with his thoughts. And his thoughts naturally wandered to  _ him _ , once more. 

Earlier, when he was flying over to Twilight Town, something inside him had stirred and awoken. It was as if he became aware of, well, everything. His senses had extended to the entire town. He could feel people walking everywhere on its ground, laughter and chatter from all of its citizens. It filled his head. Drowned out his thoughts. Every breath he took, he could hear and even  _ feel  _ the exhale of others. He could feel the beating hearts of many, all together, pumping blood through miles and miles of blood vessels. And then, as quickly as it came on, it all faded, much to his relief. Yet one heart had remained, beating in sync with his own. He could taste the other boy’s distress, and it called to him. Vanitas remembered how hard he tried to fight against it, how much he tried to shut everything off, clamp his hands over his ears, and do everything within his power to tear himself away from it all. It wasn’t just overstimulating, the pain that he felt experiencing so many people was almost going to rip him into two.    
He had heard the blond’s cry in his heart, clear as day, and it compelled him to slay two Shades in his stead. 

_ “When did I sign up to become another angel’s guardian angel?”  _ he wondered.  _ “And why did it have to be someone so fucking… _ ” 

It was bad enough that he was at one “angel’s” beck and call already. Did he really have to add a second one? 

“If I ever see him again, ugh. Idiot almost made my head explode.” 

Not only that, but Ventus also knew his name somehow, despite the fact that the two of them were strangers. But a nagging feeling had started up when he had gazed at him. It was a strange feeling of familiarity, a deja vu, almost. But Vanitas couldn’t pinpoint why. Not knowing things pissed him off. And there was definitely something about that boy that set his temper ablaze. 

He remembered another thing that came out of his mouth.

_ “I’m doing my best to help him...you’re not even doing anything! It’s like...It’s like you don’t care.” _

“Ugggggghhh!” He cried out, and kicked at the side of a building. “He thinks he’s so high and mighty, he thinks he knows _ all  _ about me!” 

It wasn’t even that simple, Vanitas was just a very practical thinker. It was better to stabilize that human and go look for someone to help. Twilight Town was teeming with people to help. But instead, Ven wanted to be the  _ hero _ even though that would just waste time and resources. Vanitas thought it was wasteful. 

But how did that _ boy _ see it? 

_ “It’s like...It’s like you don’t care.” _

It was hard to. 

It was hard to care about anything, when you yourself were a cup that was half-empty. And soon, you’d be an empty cup with nothing left to give.    
_ “Of course I cared,”  _ he argued.  _ “He’s just….He’s just being a wasteful moron!” _

Again he kicked at the empty building, as more of his anger bubbled to the surface. It engulfed him and started to set firecrackers under his veins. His skin heated up and he couldn’t stop guttural growls from coming out of his throat. 

_ “Does he think his powers are infinite? Does he think he can just throw them around willy nilly? Just because he has that stupid light, he thinks it makes him fucking invincible. I’ve never met anyone so…”  _

“STUPID!” He shouted. His voice bounced off the streets. He punched the crumbly bricks of the building, and flames spurt out of his hands. He yelped and stepped back, and stared at his hands as they shook wildly. Fire again? But why? All he was...all his strength lied in darkness, the void, the nothing. Not something, not...anything with light. He squeezed his left hand, opening and closing it multiple times. He tried to focus on something, maybe to call the fire back, but nothing but inky smoky trails of darkness answered, flowing from his fingertips. Whatever heat that had suddenly appeared along with the flames, quickly faded away, as if nothing was there. 

“Oh, so what, you’re only going to show yourself when I get angry?” He let out a loud grumble and kept on walking. 

Farther and farther the boy walked, until there were no more signs of angel-made anything. No apartments, no roads, nothing. He was walking on dry patches of dirt. It was so devoid of life that barely any color passed through where he was walking. With every step he took, he left behind gray, ashen footprints in its stead. 

_ “Ok. Two things that make no sense. That blond bitch, and the fire that came out of me again.” _

Xemnas had reminded the boy to always watch his emotions. Never let his emotions take over. Expressions were for those whose bodies could handle them. 

_ “But not you,” “someone” explained to him rather nonchalantly. His raspy voice permeated through the boy’s ears, and made his poor stomach want to turn inside out. “No no no, definitely not you, Vanitas. You’re much too fragile, too weak, too-” _

“Stop it…” he ordered himself. His hands were locked tightly into fists. “Stop reminding me. Stop thinking about it. And for fuck’s sake, stop thinking about...about…”    
He was fine thinking about Xemnas, as long as his thoughts never traveled to the man whom Vanitas feared most. The one whose presence could strike fear into his bones. Fear...he hated the feeling, hated how it squeezed his heart tightly and made him quiver uncontrollably. If he could, he’d surely rise up and strike back at the man who ripped him away from whatever bliss he could have received from somewhere above. But here he was, stuck at the bottom, getting closer and closer to the edge of the land, closer and closer to the abyss down below…

With the stress rising, he lifted his hood and dug into his hair. He tugged at it so hard, he was sure clumps of it were being ripped from his scalp. He ignored the sharp pain that followed with every yank, and instead pulled harder. 

“You don’t have to remind me about him! I don’t care, I never want to see his face ever again! Don’t want to hear him, don’t want to see him, just stop...stop...STOP!” 

Once again, flames burst from his body, and they propelled him forwards, off the ledge. There was nothing keeping him from falling into the deep well of black that the land hovered over. He gasped and summoned his wings to fly back up, but ropes of nothing but pure darkness had already grabbed his body, and it pulled him downwards.

_ “Shit shit shit shit shit shi-” _

He dug his nails into his pants, and tried to focus on the darkness surrounding him as he fell. He first tried to absorb as much as he could, but as he did, more and more came in, until it weighed him down more. His body was frigid and stiff, and the weight of everything he absorbed pulled him down faster. He looked up, and Never Was was growing farther and farther away. 

“N-No…” he weakly called out. He desperately reached towards the last bits of light that shone down on the land, until that too disappeared. Just like his vision, he had slipped into an ocean of the night, with no stars in sight. He tried to scream, but barely any air came in or out. All he could do was drift in the sea of the void. 

He struggled more, flapping his wings as much as he could. He was supposed to  _ fly, _ not hurtle farther and farther down! What use was having all these feathers glued to his body if it couldn’t get him out of here?! 

As he stretched out all his pairs, they moved slowly, as if he was underwater. He gritted his teeth and pushed all of his muscles, all of his strength to flap those wings of his, but they drunkenly moved around his back, as useful as a needle in a balloon factory. With one more push, he managed to push himself a little bit upward. 

_ “Ok, that’s one thing, now come on-” _

Only for him to sink down even farther. He groaned and screamed in frustration, as he kept falling. 

After a few more tries, and switching between willing himself to fly and then threatening himself, he finally laid his arms by his side, and threw in the towel.

_ “Fine...Fine. It doesn’t matter.”  _ His stomach twisted and turned into knots until it was unrecognizable, no longer a stomach, just a pit of fear, anger, and despair. 

_ “No one knew me. No one will remember me. This is...where I should belong.” _

His heart slowed to barely a beat per minute. His body cooled and chilled. He started to get extremely tired. 

_ “I’ll give in to the dark...I’ll give in to the nothing. It’s what I am. It’s what I’ll ever be. This place has no use for...a broken boy like me.” _

That was indeed what he was. Broken. Wrong. Barely functional. He had one use and it couldn’t even get him out of this. There was nothing else to his name. 

“I’m...N-Nothing…”

Nothing.

He was nothing. 

He fell, until he softly landed on the bottom of wherever the bottom of nothing was. Darkness circled around him, pressing into his skin, his lungs, his mouth. He gasped and coughed. He clawed at his chest, begging his lungs to inflate and take in air. He kneeled at his heart, begging over and over,  _ “Please...just a little bit of warmth! I’m so cold…” _

Energy fled his body, and soon, he didn’t even have enough in him to shiver.   
_ “What a shitty end. But maybe I...maybe I deserve it...after all, I’m...I’m…” _

But then, a deep voice boomed in the distance. 

**“No. You are indeed Something.”**

Vanitas’ body jerked, and warmth filled it once more. He felt a pair of strong arms surround him, and lift him. He clung to the body that cradled him, and his body glowed softly, taking in warmth and energy greedily.

**“This isn’t where you should be, young one.”** the voice continued. It sounded like a whole chorus came out of his mouth. But as he spoke more, the voices petered off, until just one remained. It sounded familiar, as if it were an old friend speaking to him. But he wasn’t sure who it was at all. 

**“Goodness. And to think you’re the one I saw that day, the one I called to, the one born from…..ah, nevermind. You’re not going to remember any of this, are you?”**

Vanitas could only drowsily mumble. He could barely see the person who held him. He squinted as much as he could, to at least see his eyes, to see  _ anything. _

What he saw was soft, friendly green eyes with wisps of blond hair casually framing his face. He saw the boy from the clocktower...was he the one who saved him?

“V-Ventus?” he asked.

The young angel reached up to touch his face. There was no way. That boy, he couldn’t even save himself. He had no reason to be here. Did he even know he was out here at all?! It made no sense. Vanitas knew that the boy wanted to act the hero, but angels weren’t omniscient. He would have no idea that he was here. More and more questions filled his mind, but he didn’t care. Right now he was swaddled in an ocean’s worth of warmth. He breathed in softly, wanting nothing more than to have it forever. Was it another “dream” of his, or had he truly died? It wasn’t like angels couldn’t face mortality. Was this what was waiting for him at the edge of life and death?

Upon hearing the name, the voice let out a hearty chuckle.  **“Of course. That’s the one you see. It makes sense, I am borrowing his strength. Don’t worry. This is only the start. You’ll see each other very soon once again. But you just gotta get through a few more things. You’ve got it kiddo. But don’t go doing something stupid. What I don’t need is an abrupt ending!”**

Vanitas blinked slowly. The other boy’s words went through one ear and out the other. All it sounded to him was a bunch of garbled nonsense. He nuzzled the stranger’s chest, and sighed happily. If sunlight and fresh laundry were a person, it would be the one carrying him now, and Vanitas wanted to be in their arms forever, even if it was  _ him.  _ That stupid, dull, wasteful, ordinary boy, Ventus. The fact that Vanitas even remembered his name should be marked as a miracle. 

“V-Ventus…” he breathed, and snuggled in closer. “Ven…” Everytime the darkness-kissed angel had said his name, a weird, warm feeling responded from his heart. It was indescribable, and definitely a new emotion that he had never experienced. He wasn’t sure what it was at all, and though it made him comfy, he couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. Should he be feeling this way? Wouldn’t this just weaken him more? 

_ “Please…”  _ he begged himself.  _ “Just let me have this. I’m safe….I’m warm, I think…” _

**“Anyways, we should get you back...you’ll be right where you started.”**

The one who carried him rose out of the darkness. His wings spread out far and wide, and when the light hit them, a parade of colors shone from them. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet danced everywhere with every flick of his wings. The colors settled back down as he landed back onto the desolate land. He closed his eyes and the two of them moved across the land in an instant, all the way back to the abode that the raven haired boy begrudgingly called home. 

And as quickly as he arrived, he left, leaving the boy resting by the door. 

A little while later, Vanitas let out a soft moan as he came to. He suddenly jolted in surprise when he found himself right by the house that he had left earlier. 

_ “But wasn’t I…” _

Wait. What was he doing?

He was letting out steam by the outskirts of town, he definitely was. He was angry, and fire had flared up from his fingers  _ somehow,  _ catapulting him all the way….

Down in the deep dark depths, just like what he saw in his visions. He sighed loudly, obviously very confused. 

Until he had remembered more. 

He remembered the arms that held him, carried him out of the abyss, the eyes that crinkled slightly with each smile. 

They definitely were the same eyes as…

_ “No way. I was...hallucinating… I mean I had to, if it was just like my other...fuckin vision or whatever. It was just another vision...another…” _

Dream?

Angels dreaming...it was impossible. Angels didn’t dream, everyone knew that. And visions were for those fuddy duddy Star Seers, those with the power to gaze into the unknown. 

_ “Alright dumbass, if it wasn’t a vision or a dream then it had to be real! But how the fuck did that stupid waste of light save me?” _

He’d have to ask him at this point, even though there was a laundry list of things he’d rather do. He wasn’t even sure that he could find and talk to that boy again. It seemed like an impossibility for sure. There were so many birds, he wasn’t sure if they would ever see each other. 

_ “I guess we’ll just have to see,” _ he thought, as he opened the doors and slipped inside home.

He was hoping that he didn’t take too long, that he still had enough time to get home and pretend that he was doing whatever Xemnas had told him to do earlier. 

He let the door softly shut, and moved to go back to his room, until he looked and saw himself face to face, with the man himself, the building with feet, Xemnas. His yellow eyes pierced right through the boy’s mask, taking away all the warmth that was lovingly given to him before.

He breathed in softly and tried to chill his nerves, even though internally he was definitely panicking. 

“So. Training took that long, hm?” He asked. There was little tone in his voice, as usual. It was smooth, and slipped into your ears easily, but oh how Vanitas dreaded it. 

Vanitas only nodded in reply, a little too nervous to say anything else, and he hated himself for it. The last thing he needed was for any asshole to make him feel like he was trapped under a dome of glass, with the walls closing in. But Xemnas definitely had that power, along with others that made Vanitas want to run away and hide, but the very thought of running away filled him with shame. 

Xemnas slowly made his way up to the young man, maintaining eye contact with every step he took. 

“I’m sure you had a lot to work on, yes?” He said. He stared down at him, looking a little bored. 

Vanitas stared at him, unable to read his expression at all. Did he know at all he was lying? Was he upset at all? And how long was he even out? It probably was a while, considering that NeverWas was pretty big. It wasn’t Scala big, but it was definitely bigger than Twilight Town. 

Not only that, but there was the whole falling into darkness and then being maybe saved by the idiot drooling twink. Could Ventus even lift another person? Unlikely. 

The two of them exchanged looks until Xemnas sighed, and waved him away. 

“Perhaps you should just go to your room. You’re exhausted, are you not?” 

Vanitas couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “Yes, superior.” He quickly turned heel and went to the marble stairs. 

“Ah. One second. Vanitas?” 

He froze in his position, with one foot on a step. “Y-Yes?”

He could hear the echoy footsteps of the superior as he got closer to him. Suddenly, his arm was grabbed, and he was forcefully turned to face him. He barely made a noise as he was grabbed. He looked up, and immediately noticed that Xemnas’ eyes were sharper, and his eyebrows were slightly downturned. 

“Do not. Lie to me.” His voice had an edge to it. “It only spells out bad things for you. You know this, and yet you continue to make foolish decisions. You have all your tells. Your hesitancy, your excessive staring, and the fact that this is the quietest you’ve been for days, clearly you are being deceptive.” His grip on Vanitas’ arm tightened. “Did you, or did you not train, like I explicitly told you to?”

Vanitas bit down on his lip, trying to quell the waves of anxiety inside him. 

_ One of his thoughts piped up. “W-Well?! Say something! Maybe if you just tell the truth he’ll go easy on you!”  _

_ “You fucking idiot. When does he ever ‘go easy?’” He argued back. _

Xemnas raised an eyebrow. “Ah. More silence. How charming.”

“I-I didn’t, ok?!” Vanitas blurted. “I mean, not enough at least. I got some flying in, and some mapping of this place, y’know, so I don’t get fucking lost? I did some stuff with my blade, but not alot. N-Now can I go?”

The superior stared at the boy some more, his whole face did not move a muscle. He didn’t even blink. Vanitas could only look back, and wait quietly, though his panicked thoughts were loud enough to fill the room. He leaned back against the wall, and tightened all of his muscles, bracing himself for whatever Xemnas decided to hurl at him. Maybe it was just going to be a slap, not even across his face. 

Finally, the older man spoke. “Vanitas. Why do you do this?” Once again, his voice was flat. 

The boy slightly relaxed. He wasn’t  _ too _ angry. “I...huh?”

“Why must you slack off?”

Vanitas huffed. “It was just...a little break after, well you know, the shades and-”

“So you think you earned yourself a ‘break’ after your oh so ‘marvelous’ stunts with the insignificant specks of dusk?” His voice slightly rose. To the common ear, the change in pitch was barely noticeable, but definitely Vanitas heard it. 

“W-Well...Y-Yeah..” He squirmed a little under Xemnas’ grip, but the man held on to his arm even tighter. 

“Tell me, angel. What are the seven deadly sins?”

Vanitas blinked at him in surprise. “U-Uum…”

“ _ Quickly.” _

“P-Pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, and wrath.” They rolled off his tongue naturally.

“And what sin did you display to me today?”

He grumbled. “Sloth.”

“ _ Louder. _ ” His voice dropped a few degrees in temperature. 

Vanitas tensed up even more. “Sloth. And probably pride too…”

“Correct with sloth. Hmm, perhaps you did show pride today. And what are you going to do now?”

He bowed his head. “Atone.” 

Xemnas twisted his face into something that Vanitas refused to call a smile. Smiles are for people who don’t have punchable faces. 

“Correct.” His hand released his arm, and then went to touch his face. He slipped under the mask and stroked Vanitas’ cheek softly with his cold palm. “You know I only desire your best outcomes, correct? Meaning, you have to balance your excessive sin. You must banish any and all thinking that would lead you to not do your best. You are a tool, and with darkness the hand that carries you, you must be sharp to let it properly do its job within you.”

Though he absolutely despised it, he craved for the little morsels of warmth that he hoped to get from Xemnas’ embrace. He nuzzled the palm, desiring that warmth, even if it was a far cry from what he had actually wanted. 

What he wanted more than ever was for those arms from earlier to carry him once more, carry him far far away from any and all pieces of shit that took joy in walking all over him. 

“I just…” he said softly. “I just wanted a little break, to walk around, to feel…”

“To feel what, hm?” The superior let out a snort. “You cannot. You should not. Whatever you wish, whatever you desire, it cannot be. Not for someone like you. Not a poor...”

Vanitas grit his teeth. Here it comes…

“Weak,  _ broken  _ boy like you. To even call you a boy would be incorrect. You are...more of a fragment, a one trick pony. Good for darkness, yes. But there is not much else.” He sighed, and then pulled the mask off of him. “Most likely you got these ideas from all those happy little moths from above. But they’re not like you. Even the littlest of angels has more of a use than you. From now on, perhaps I should supervise you more, so you don’t get any other harmful ideas in your head from them.”

_ “Oh goddamnit! Great! More quality time with the world’s biggest douchebag. Motherfucker just wants to hear himself talk.” _

Vanitas was starting to seriously consider plunging back into the abyss. 

But all he could do was sigh, and begrudgingly accept those words put onto him. Weak.  _ Broken.  _ A  _ fragment. _ He’s heard those words over the years, over and over again, and they curled around them tightly, like chains. He breathed softly. Only light knew how tired he was of hearing them, of hearing how much of an unperson he was. 

“I-I know...I’m nothing...I just wanted…” he sighed heavily and continued. “I just want…”

Xemnas cut in. “What you want does not matter. You cannot want. Now, up to your room.”

Vanitas tightened his jaw. “Yes,  _ superior. _ ” he said, and turned to leave for his room. 

“That is more like it. I was worried for a second there. I thought I would have needed back up. Perhaps from….oh I don’t know, Lord Xe-”

“D-Don’t!” Vanitas said suddenly. The word was out faster than he could stop himself. “Please...Please don’t...I’ll train hard. I’ll train extra h-hard..” He called his keyblade to his side, and gripped it so tightly, he could definitely shatter it. “I-I can even train right now…”

He didn’t have to turn around to know that Xemnas had a big ol smirk plastered all over his hideous mug. Vanitas  _ knew.  _ The sick bastard loved to make him squirm, and Vanitas gave him all that he had desired to see from him. 

“That’s much better. See to it that you do. I will be in the library. Do not bother me until you are exhausted.” The superior turned to step into the hallway. 

Vanitas let out a shaky sigh, and counted the amount of footsteps he heard. 

_ “One...two, three….” _

He made sure that he was aware of every noise around the house. 

_ “Seven, eight, nine…” _

He had gotten off easier than he thought. Maybe Xemnas was in a good mood?

_ “Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen…” _

But it was going to be another ‘train until you pass out’ day.

_ “Twenty two, Twenty three, door open, door shut. He’s in the library.” _

He sighed and held out his keyblade. He’d better get started...

  
  



	5. Look Forward, Never Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud takes Ventus back to the Land of Departure, and Ven faces some terrible news. But afterwards, a voice calls out while it falls into darkness. Something within himself compels Ventus to reach out towards the voice, and be thier light in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agh! Sorry this took so long! @.@ motivation is a bitch.

"Aaaaall done!" Aerith said. She withdrew her hands and fixed her skirt. 

Ventus looked at himself. Any and all signs of injury had vanished, and he was feeling energetic. Cloud was right, Aerith really knew her stuff. 

He looked up at her with a big smile.

"Thank you so much, Miss Aerith!" He said. 

"Of course, Ven. Anything to help. Here's hoping you don't get roughed up by anything else. But if you do, I'll be here to patch you up again."

Cloud was standing by the doorway, watching. The corners of his mouth were slightly upturned. 

“Are you ready to go back home?” he asked. “You said you’re stationed at Departure, right?”

Ventus looked up at him and nodded.

“You’re….are you one of Master Hera’s students?” 

“Uh, no?” Ventus said. “People say that to me alot when I tell them I’m living at Departure. I’m one of Master Eraqus’ students.” 

“Really?” Cloud asked. He furrowed his brows as he sifted his thoughts around. Then he looked at Ventus. His eyebrows were knit together, and he stared in disbelief for a little before speaking up. 

_ “Why was he looking at me like that?”  _ Ven wondered.  _ “It was like he didn’t believe me or something. _

“Huh. I know he’s one of the few masters at Departure. There’s him, Master Hera, and Master Proserpina. I know those master’s students are usually the younger ones but uh...” He scratched his head as he continued to talk. “I never heard of  _ him _ taking on a moth...Uh, how long have you been with him?”

“About four years!” he answered happily. And what a bunch of four years those have been. Most of it was watching Terra and Aqua train and slowly gain more and more responsibilities. He remembered always being sickly, even before his wings grew in. He remembered the excitement he got from having the bookshelf in his room fill up with loads of not just books, but scrolls and maps. They were authored by not just angels, but humans as well. Aqua never failed to fill his shelf with at least one or two books she picked up from the mortal realm whenever she got to go there. Often, the young boy would dream about someday going down there himself, drinking in as much literature as he could get. But such a dream like that would be worlds away from reality for him. Moths rarely got to go to the human realm. Of the architects, healers, seers and historians, they’d probably only have to go once or twice. It was the archangels(the guardians/warriors) that really got to go and experience the realm under the clouds as much as they wished. Going places and protecting the small? That was Ventus’ dream through and through. 

Cloud pressed his lips together. “Really? Huh...ok.” He chewed on his lip for a moment and then muttered under his breath. “Anyways, let’s get you back there.”

_ “What did he say?”  _ Ventus wondered. But perhaps it did not matter for now. He was finally going home!

The two of them took to the skies and Scala grew smaller and smaller. Ven smiled as they left that place. It really did feel crowded. The Land of Departure was much smaller and the amount of people who lived there was easier to keep track of. As they flew back, Ven couldn’t help but wonder what Cloud was talking about. A moon was a full cycle from new to full, so wouldn’t he know about Ventus if he had been with Eraqus for years? Then again, he also didn’t know how long the two of them had talked, and how much they talked. But then, he did remember that other angels he briefly talked to were surprised to learn that he was Eraqus’ student. But he never thought too much about it, he always chalked it up to them thinking that it was unusual for him to take a young student like him. But he couldn’t help but think about it.. From what he gathered from talking to Cloud, it felt like Eraqus didn’t talk about him to other angels.

He stayed on this thought for a bit, and then decided to ask about it to Cloud.

“Um...Cloud?” Ventus asked. 

“Hm? Yes, Ven?”

“How often do you talk to Master Eraqus?” 

Cloud pressed his lips together as he tried to think about it. “Uh, not very often? I see him in passing or when I need to go to Departure for whatever reasons. I think I met Aqua once or twiceish. Last time I saw him was a couple of moons ago. He said he had….two students named Aqua and Terra, usually someone like him would take on more but I guess one on one time is better for him…”

Ventus was a little confused. “He didn’t mention me at all?” 

“No, he didn’t. And of the students he usually teaches, they’re either right about to take their exams, or their already archangels. It’s Master Hera who usually takes in moths…”   
  


Ven rubbed his arms as Cloud talked. Was he somehow this weird outlier? Is that why his master never talks about him to others? 

“I mean, hey. Maybe he saw something special in you.” 

Ven looked down. “Yeah...maybe.” 

But this didn’t do much to soothe him. All he wanted to do was focus on being a good student and archangel. He thought he was doing well, but did Eraqus not agree? He’ll definitely have to fix that if that were the case. It was time for him to put in twice the effort. 

The two blonds made their way back to the floating islands that housed three castles, as well as a bunch of towers. They touched down by the main castle entrance. Once they made their way back inside, Aqua was there to greet them. She looked at the two of them with a little bit of surprise, and then recomposed herself by clearing her throat. She gave Cloud a polite wave, and smiled warmly at Ven. 

“It’s nice to see you again, Cloud. It’s been a while,” she said. “Oh, and Ven, the master is back. I was just about to fetch you back here.” Her eyes darted between the two of them. She knew Cloud always carried a serious demeanor, but with both his and Ven’s face showing bits of anguish, she couldn’t help but be a little concerend. 

“Is something wrong?”

Cloud straightened his posture. “I brought Ventus back. He was attacked by two Shades under my watch. I took him to a healer, and he should be alright now.”

Aqua gasped and immediately went to Ventus' side the moment the word attacked came out of Cloud's mouth.

"Are you alright?!" She shouted, and quickly checked him up and down. 

Ventus groaned when Aqua squeezed his cheeks and moved his head around.

"Aquaaaaaa, I'm fine!" He exclaimed. "Didn't you hear Cloud? I got healed by a Sylph."

"Still!" She argued. "Shades, coming after you like that? Ohh...you could have been.." she then shook her head rapidly. "I don't even want to think about it. Not at all." 

Ventus groaned again. He felt like he was being babied by her. He knew being attacked the way he was was definitely something to worry about, but there he stood, healthy as a horse, and Aqua was buzzing around him incessantly. 

"Aqua...I know you're worried but I'm  _ fine, _ I feel really good even!" 

She pulls away, but she has a wary look on her face. 

"Alright...but do you want to rest? Do you want me to make you any tea? Lemonade?" 

His ears perked up at the sound of lemonade. Something sweet would be nice. 

"Ok, lemonade sounds good...thanks!" 

She nodded. "Oh, Cloud? Would you like some lemonade?" 

He shook his head. "Ah, that's ok. Besides, I have to get going. I...well, I have paperwork to file." He grunted in annoyance. "Oh, before I go, is Master Eraqus here?" 

Aqua nodded. "He's in his study right now."

"Great... I'd like to see him, if that's alright with you."

"Of course!" Aqua stepped aside so he could come in. "I'll lead the way. Ven? You should come with us."

"Huh?" Ven said. "Uh, right!" He quickly followed after Aqua obediently. 

The three angels walked down a long echoy corridor towards the Master's study room. It was right by the training halls. 

Aqua opened the double doors, and the three stepped into a wide room that had a lot of books and papers splayed everywhere on Eraqus' giant mahogany desk. Behind the desk was a towering bookshelf, filled to the brim with books, to the point where some aimlessly floated near it, they were enchanted with gravity magic. 

And right in front of the bookshelf, stood a senior angel, back turned to the group, looking over his books. 

Aqua cleared her throat. 

"Master Eraqus?" She said. 

He jolted and turned around. 

"Ah! Aqua, and Ventus, and…" he blinked, and stared at the other blond. "...Cloud?" 

"Yes sir," Cloud said. “I know it's been a while. It’s nice to see you again.”

“Nice to see you too,” he said with a polite smile. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Cloud rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, you see, I was assigned to lead and teach a group of Moths today. They were to find any and all evidence of Shades in Twilight Town.” 

Eraqus raised his eyebrows, but let Cloud continue.

“It was just so they could find out what Shade energy felt like, and so they could practice their investigative skills. I was given some remnant Shade energy which was put in some parts of town, and that’s all that they were going to run into. But what I did not expect were two actual Shades. Ventus found them. Or….well, they found him.”

“Wait, what?!” Eraqus exclaimed. Just like Aqua, he was at Ventus’ side so quickly, Ventus swore that he was able to teleport. 

“I’m fine, master…” Ventus whined. Sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder if Aqua and Eraqus were just clones of each other. 

“Of course, I had him healed, and then I took him here, where Aqua received us.” 

“Yeah! I’m perfectly aight.” Ventus puffed out his chest.

“You mean you’re perfectly  _ alright, _ ” Eraqus said.

Ventus huffed. “Yeah, perfectly alright. Plus it wasn’t even that scary...It’s not like I was alone for too long…”

This almost caused Eraqus’ eyes to bug out. “You were  _ alone  _ with  _ two _ Shades?!” He turned towards Cloud, and the look both he and Aqua gave to him would have definitely obliterated him if looks could kill.

Cloud sucked in a breath. 

Eraqus turned to Ventus. His eyes were frantic. “What exactly did they do to you?”

Ventus knit his fingers together. Maybe he wasn’t in trouble, but it sure as hell felt like it. 

“Um, well...they uh, they were hiding in this poor human, two of them in one body, they came at me with these chains, and held me down and uh…” He presses his lips together for the next part. This part was definitely harder to talk about. He could still remember how everything within him felt like it was withering away and dying. 

“I think um...I think they were um...draining my essence. But I wasn't scared!” his voice cracked at the end. “Honest.”

As he talked, Eraqus scowled at Cloud until his face had twisted into a full on death glare to end all death glares. 

  
Ventus noticed this and piped up before his master could start yelling, though he looked more like he was going to start swinging at him. 

“Ah! Master, it's not Cloud’s fault! Besides, I had some help fighting them. See, there was this other angel, and well uh...well, uh...well ok, I won’t lie. He was such a jerk. But he did help me fight them off. He was crazy strong and stuff, and even though it was scary, his darkness wasn’t even that ba-”

He quickly shut his mouth and swallowed harshly the moment he said darkness.  _ “I think I made it worse…” _

The senior angel went quiet, and a deafening silence covered the entire room. He stiffly pushed Ventus towards Aqua. The boy yelped from being shoved. 

“Aqua, take Ventus out of here.” His voice was tight. 

Ventus nervously looked at Eraqus and Cloud.  _ “Oh no...now what did I do? I had to open my big mouth like that! I know he hates anything to do with darkness but…” _

Eraqus quickly flashed a small smile at Ventus. “It’s alright, son.” Said smile vanished when he turned back to Cloud. 

Aqua nudged Ventus. “Come on,” she said, and quickly pulled him out of the room. The moment she shut the door, the two of them could clearly hear the master’s yelling. The walls shook slightly as it got louder and louder. Ventus clung close to Aqua. She smiled and rubbed his head.    
“Ah, don’t worry Ven, he's not angry with  _ you. _ ”

“I don’t like seeing the master that angry,” Ventus whispered. “And it wasn’t Cloud’s fault, he didn’t know about the Shades. I didn’t mind if I had to be by myself, honest…”

“And I understand where you’re coming from, but Cloud is in charge of all of you, and if anything happens, it falls to him. You’re all still in training after all. Not only that, but when it came to pairing everyone up, you definitely should have been with someone!"

Ventus kicked at the ground. “Well, yeah, I get that. But I’m fine, I am.”

“Still, it’s him who has to be responsible if anything happens to you. And a lot of things could have happened to you. 

Oh, didn’t you say another angel helped you?”

Ventus nodded. “Yeah. His name is...uh, I think it’s Vanitas. He had these giant black wings, and used his dark magic to attack the Shades. I helped too, of course. It was pretty cool but…” he huffed. “He kept insulting me. Said I was...weak.”

He looked away. It was four years since he was found in a fractured state. He had to take so much time when it came to relearning the basics of being an angel. Even flying was a struggle when he grew out his wings. And even after all that progress, he was still a mess with magic, still a mess with parts of combat, still very much an angel in training and the exams were right around the corner. 

Aqua tutted, and ruffled his hair. “You are not weak. Not at all. You’re training as hard as you can, despite your condition, and we’re all proud of you. No one expected you to fight off monsters like those yet, but you did it, and you should be proud of that. You really should be.”

He crossed his arms. “It doesn’t feel like it,” he grumbled. “You guys keep hovering over me like I’m some human kid or something. I mean, I get why, but aren’t we angels? Aren’t we supposed to face danger like this all the time?” 

His voice grew low near the end because he remembered the terrifying feeling he had when he was pinned to the ground, and his essence was being drained out of him. He remembered how he started to feel withered, how he literally was wasting away. He had tried to tell himself over and over that he was fine, and that he was safe, but those thoughts that carried pure dread would not leave. 

_ “It’s fine…”  _ he told himself.  _ “Terra and Aqua go through things like this all the time, it’s fine. I shouldn’t be scared. Next time, I’ll be stronger…” _

“Well, you are right, but you’re still in training. And you have to give yourself some credit Ven...you aren't at all like the others in your class. You need time to heal still. We’re supposed to gradually introduce these things so you don’t become overwhelmed. True, you will deal with monsters like Shades, but we definitely won’t sic them on you like that. Not yet, at least.”

“It's been years, Aqua!” he exclaimed, and crossed his arms. "I can't afford to be like this anymore! I don't want to be a broken thing that constantly needs repairs. There are humans out there who need us, and I can't be broken. I can't be weak...it's not fair! At this rate I'll be lucky to pass my exam."

"And you're going to. But you have to be patient with yourself," she said firmly. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "When Master Eraqus found you, you were barely able to speak, barely able to think. Sometimes we had to carry you. Other ones we had to pour in lots and lots of magic to keep you stable. Your heart was fractured. Your essence was incomplete. At times….we weren't sure you were going to survive." She holds his hands and softly smiles. 

"That's why you should treat everything you do like a big accomplishment. Because you were on the brink so easily before. But you're here now. And you're doing your best. We're so proud of you!" 

She ruffled his hair.

"Really proud." 

He looked up at her. His green eyes were wide with hope. 

"You think I got this?"

"Yes. You're more than capable. But you just need some extra help. You did have someone with you when those monsters attacked, right?” 

Ventus nodded. “I did.”

“You did,” she noted. “They were hostile, and could use magic….hm, they sounded at least level 3..maybe level 4? Goodness...how did they even get here? It should be impossible for Level 1s to get around, let alone level 3…”

Ventus recalled from classes that Shades had 5 levels when it came to how dangerous they could be. Formerly the souls of living humans, Shades were disjointed creatures who suffered a traumatic death. They rejected the Kingdom’s light and instead chose to wander the realms. Shades of the level 1 variety only caused an influx of anxiety of negative emotions. Anything of a higher level could switch from attacking passively to attacking actively, seeking out the essence of other living creatures or even angels. 

“Ah, nevermind about that…” she said, and sighed. “Anyways, I know we should probably head back to your room, but let’s go get you some lemonade. Something fun to drink should help take your mind off of it for now.”

She walked him towards the lounge room.

Ventus followed after, and his thoughts were once again flooded with that boy.

_ “Just what was his problem anyways?” _ he wondered.  _ “The moment I opened my mouth, he was so angry, and yet he saved me. He claimed that I knew nothing about him, yet I knew his name.”  _

Aqua and Ventus walked down the hallway, and there wasn’t much noise made from the two of them, other than their echoey footsteps. Ventus only assumed that she too was filled to the brim with her own thoughts. 

They made it to the lounge, where a few other angels had been making themselves comfortable. They greeted Aqua and Ventus with a nod. The wall had lots of large windows that filled the room with the open air. On a coffee table next to one of the couches was a freshly made pitcher of lemonade and some cups. Aqua walked over to the table and started to pour two cups. 

“One of Master Hera’s students made the lemonade. They used a couple of lemons from the farm right outside Twilight Town.” 

“Really?” Ventus asked in awe as he stared at the pitcher. “I thought we weren’t allowed to use anything in the farms.” 

“We’re not,” Aqua pointed out. “But they were a gift from one of the humans, and it would be rude to turn down a gift from the ones we’re living with.”

Ventus sat on a couch and swung his legs idly. “Yeah, you got a point. That was really nice of them!” 

“It was!” She handed him the glass and took a sip out of her own. 

Ventus lifted his glass to his lips. When he took a sip, he was surprised to find out that it tasted pretty tangy. His cheeks turned pink from the acidity.

Aqua looked at him, and playfully poked his cheeks. “How is it?” she asked, and stifled a giggle. 

“Uh, is lemonade supposed to be this sour?” he asked.

She giggled. “It’s much less sweeter than ambrosia, isn’t it?” 

He wrinkled his nose. “Definitely.” 

An hour passed as the two of them enjoyed themselves. Aqua took the time to stretch out her wings. Ventus meanwhile just kept scratching at his developing wings. 

“Hey, easy. You don’t want to bruise the skin,” Aqua warned. “As your 2nd pair grows, the skin around it starts becoming very sensitive. Just leave it alone and let it do its thing.”

“But Aquaaaaaa,” Ventus whined. “It’s itchy as hell!” He rubbed his back against the couch. His lower back felt like it hadn’t been stimulated in years. He could have sworn that there was an anthill running down his back and burrowing into his skin. 

“Shhhht.” She softly took his wrists and pulled them away from his back. “You’re only going to make it worse. I can make a salve for you to relieve the itching, but you absolutely cannot scratch.”

He let out an angry huff. “Fine…”

An angel walked into the lounge, searched around, and walked up to Aqua and Ventus once they caught a glimpse of their blue and blond hair. They walked up right to them.

“You’re Ventus, correct? I caught Master Eraqus down the hall. He says he wishes to speak with you, and to meet him in his study.”

Ventus looked at Aqua. His eyebrows were knit together with worry. “Um…”

“So much for your room. We better head back then.” she said urgently.

When the two of them came back to Eraqus’ study, Cloud was nowhere in sight. Eraqus on the other hand was shuffling through a few scrolls. When he heard the two come in, he looked up.

“Ah, there we go. I wanted to speak with you.”

“Um…” Ventus said. “About what?” 

He looked quizzically at Aqua. “Aqua? Can you give us some space please?”

“O-Oh,” she said, and quickly left the room.

Ventus glanced between Aqua and Eraqus. Now he was even more confused. What was going on?

“Ventus…” Eraqus said softly. “How do you feel? Have you been taking your medicine?”

The blond nodded. “I have. It tastes like sh...it tastes really bad.”

Eraqus raised an eyebrow. “Alright then. But you’re aware that I cannot control the taste.”

“I know, I know.” he grumbled. “But I’ve been taking it every day, just like you told me to.”

“That’s good at least. It will help you.” He carefully watched him, looking at him up and down.

“I don’t really get it...Why do I have to take it again?”

Eraqus cleared his throat. “It’s to help stabilize you. Especially since you’re at a higher risk of running into things like darkness.”

“But…” he furrowed his brows. “Is darkness even that bad? I mean, all it is is the absence of light.”

“It may seem like that, yes, but even darkness is able to hide its true intentions.” Eraqus’ voice is firm. “It is dangerous, and volatile. Especially for you. The last thing I want is for you to go back to how you were when I found you, hollowed out and barely clinging to this realm.”

Ventus lowered his eyes. “Y-Yeah...I get it. I know you’re worried about that. I know. But..” 

_ “But is darkness...really that bad? That boy used it to fight off the Shades. Sure he was a jerk but…” _

It was a better idea to not bring it up any longer, lest he risk getting into either an argument or a 3-hour long lecture. 

“Besides that,” Eraqus continued. “I wanted to talk to you about a possible concern of mine. I really am worried about you after hearing that you were attacked by Shades.”

“Oh but you don’t have to worry about that! Miss Aerith fixed me right up.”

“As I’ve heard. But, with your condition, I’m going to have to increase the dosage of your medicine.”

The young angel groaned. “But I feel fine…”

The next part came not too quickly after that. “And, I’ll have to postpone your exam.”

When he heard the words enter his ears, Ventus could feel the color drain away from his face. He blinked rapidly. Was what he heard truly real? Was it a tangible sentence that took form into this plane of their reality?!    
“I...what? Wh-What do you mean p-postpone?”

Eraqus sighed and put his hand on his shoulder. “I know you’ve been working hard, but I do not believe that it would be safe for you to take the exam."

"But why?!" He shouted. He pulled away from Eraqus’ touch and started shaking. "It makes no sense! I feel fine, I really do! Why are you- Why are you doing this?!”

“Ventus, calm down. I’m not happy about this either, but I’m doing this for your own good.”

“But I’ve been doing all my tasks, I-I’ve been really attentive and stuff. You can ask Cloud, a-and uh, and Tifa, and...uh, w-well you can ask them, ok? I’m their fastest moth and my 2nd pair is growing in. I’m fine, and I can still do this!”

“I’m doing this for your own good,” Eraqus repeated quietly. Then his voice got louder. “I’m stepping in so you do not get further harmed. It may have been 4 years, but you are not out of the woods quite yet.”

“N-No you’re not! You...this is my chance! It’s my chance to become someone’s guardian angel, to protect and fight off any monsters threatening the humans! I was going to go to the mortal realm and...and not be useless anymore!” His voice got louder and louder as he kept talking.” His arms and legs stiffened. His hands curled into fists. 

“ _ Ventus. _ ” Eraqus’ voice got tight. “You are not ready. Suppose you go through the trials and suddenly pass out? You may have been healed, but we have no idea what type of damage those Shades could have left inside you!”

Unable to keep calm anymore, “That’s bullshit!” Ventus argued. “It is! I know it is! I feel fine! More than fine! I know I can do it, and angels don’t even get hurt during the exams! I know I can do it,  _ please  _ I-”as much as the rest of his body did.

  
  


“VENTUS, THAT IS  _ ENOUGH! _ ” Eraqus’ voice cut through Ven’s words like a heated sword. 

Ventus felt like his body would turn inside out. All the wind was knocked out of him, and between the volume of his master’s voice and his scathing looks, Ventus suddenly felt afraid to even breathe too loudly, let alone speak. He took to his thoughts instead.  _ “It...It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all...why can’t he see that? Why can’t he see that it’s not fair?” _

“If you cannot speak calmly and clearly, then this conversation is over.” Eraqus approached him for a moment, but then his brows tightened, and he ended up withdrawing from the boy and went back to his desk. “Guardians are supposed to remain composed at all times, so that they can effectively protect the weak. Perhaps your health is not the only reason why it is a good idea to postpone your exams.”

Ventus’ breaths became shaky. He alternated between wanting to scream with rage and wanting to burst into tears. 

“I..” His voice was strained. “I just...I wanted to prove myself. I just want to help protect others, like Terra, and Aqua…” He sniffled. “A-And you. I really want to. I-I don’t want to be held back anymore. P-Please.”

“And you will. But only when you’re ready.” His voice remained firm. “But for now, you must rest. Get all the rest you can.”

“But...what about the rest of my assignments?” Ventus asked. “There’s still 3 days of work that I still need to do.” 

“Don’t worry yourself about those either. I can send notice to your other teachers about your current condition.” He handwaves him away. 

“Um….um…” He held himself close. 

Eraqus looked back at him. “Is there anything else, Ventus?” He sounded a little impatient.

“Um...no…” he said quietly. He backed out of the study and closed the door.  _ “My exam….all my work…”  _ He trembled as tears fell from his eyes, and streamed down his cheeks.  _ “It’s all for nothing. He didn’t even say when he was going to let me take it. I hope soon...I have to be an archangel. It’s my dream to protect others.”  _

He stood there for a while, taking in and processing the events that just happened. He felt a little floaty, not sure at all where or how it could have all gone so wrong. He was sure that he was doing everything right, he was sure that he had followed all that he was told to do down to the letter, and yet he could do nothing to prevent this. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all. 

He stiffened when he eventually let go of the doorknob. It left a slight inprint into his palm. He could only stare at the door, contemplating whether or not he should go back in there, whether or not he ought to try and say something, try and appeal to his master’s decision. Was this a part of the test, to see if Ventus truly wanted to become an archangel? Was this a test of his obedience to his superiors? Nothing of what he said made sense to the young boy, and that only made him more upset. The constant nagging thoughts inside him picked apart everything he had done to prepare. He wasn’t fast enough. He wasn’t strong enough. He couldn’t cast a spell to save his life. He wasn’t sensitive enough for the mortal’s plight. He. Wasn’t Good. Eno-   
  


“V-Ven?” Aqua asked. 

Her voice brought him out of his own mind and grounded him once more. Ventus jolted and he turned around to face her. He hadn’t bothered to wipe the tears from her eyes.

“A-Aqua…” He stammered.

She frowned deeply as she looked at him up and down. “I heard some yelling.Are...are you-”

“It’s fine,” Ventus said sharply. He turned to leave. 

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” she said. “I know th-”

While he breathed heavily, he took Aqua’s arm and dragged her away from Eraqus’ study. His nails were rooted into the fabric of her sleeve, and his arms were still shaking with anger. He could hear her ask over and over what’s wrong, where were they going, but he didn’t pay too much attention. The only thing in his mind was  _ Get. Out. Get. Away. _

When they did go out of the main halls and towards a side room, it was only then when he let go of her arm and turned to face her. 

As he spoke, his voice shook, his jaw was tight. 

“He...c-cancelled my exams…” He let out a pressurized puff of air through his nostrils. “All of them! All because I got beat up by a bunch of stupid Shades! And so what if I did?! I defeated them, right?! But noooooo, clearly I’m too weak, I’m too sick, I’m just a little moth who can’t fucking take care of his own fucking self and needs everything spoon fucking fed to him fuck fuck fucking fuck!”

He cursed a few more times afterwards, and gripped his fists tightly. 

Aqua could only watch in silence as she saw him literally start to turn red with anger. She clicked her tongue and came to him, softly touching his shoulder. When he didn’t pull away from her, she pulled him into a hug. She ran her fingers through his soft hair, and wasn’t surprised to feel that his skin was giving off a lot of heat. She was getting a little worried that he might overheat himself. Angels could get so mad that they start glowing red hot. 

He hugged her tightly, and descended into a series of crying. Words spilled out of his mouth, all of them half-unintelligible. He could only really focus on how comforting her presence was, how safe he felt in her arms, while he was tossed and turned around in a storm of his own anger. 

“I’m sorry, Ven…” she said softly. “I’m really sorry. Maybe I should talk to him. I’m sure I can get him to change his mind.”

“Good luck,” he grumbled. “You know him! Once he says something, he fucking says it!” 

“Ven,” She didn’t bother correcting him on his language. Not this time, at least. “Look. I’ll at least try, ok? I can talk to Terra and we can both try talking to him. You’ve been showing a lot of progress so far, and I don’t want to see it all go to waste...did he say when you could test?”

Ventus shook his head. “I didn’t ask, but he didn’t tell me when I could. All he said was that I need to rest and take more of the medicine doses, but I feel..I feel fine! I don’t get it.”

“Hm. I’ll be sure to bring that up.” She lets go and faces him. “Don’t worry about it, alright? Besides, the master won’t indefinitely suspend your exams. He’ll come around when we show him what you’re capable of, and then he’ll see. Ok? Please don’t get too angry with him, he’s just worried about you! We all are, and all we want is what is best for you.”

He looked away, too angry to respond to her.  _ “Yeah right. What’s best for me is to show my stuff, Otherwise what use am I to anyone?” _

“He’ll listen when I talk to him,” Aqua’s voice was determined. “I’ll make sure of it.” And without another word, she walked out of the side room. Her boots were extra loud as she walked out. 

For a while, Ventus stood there, unable to even say anything. He simply crossed his arms and walked out too, but went down a different hallway and up a grand set of marble stairs, all the way to his room, the only place where he could claim it as his own. 

He stepped in, and flopped on his small bed, staring up at the decorative lamps and ornaments dazzling his ceiling. It was common for rooms to take a few chapters from how humans decorated their abodes. He had his own desk, surrounded by a sea of books, a few soft toys and plants decorating the wooden floor, a fuzzy rug, a tall wardrobe, a nightstand with a cute fish-themed lamp, and a bed. Beds like his were more for comfort than sleep. He had his sleep for that week, so of course he didn’t feel tired. What he felt was frustration and anger. Not wanting to ponder on the fact that he was right in the middle of a sea of bullshit, he went to his desk and took out a book. Most of his books were of stories written by human authors with all kinds of characters. He gazed at the ones he had yet to read, and took one out. Going back over to his desk, he started reading, and it didn’t take him too long to be invested in the struggles of a young girl, living her life as best as she could in a land that Ventus hoped that had no real life resemblance in the mortal world. Apparently, the girl had to face off against 23 other young people like her, as they all fought to the death until one person was the winner. Her sister was chosen, until the girl stepped up to volunteer in her stead. 

_ “That’s what I want to do…”  _ Ventus thought glumly.  _ “I want to protect someone like that. I wouldn’t want someone like that girl’s sister to have to kill other people! And what kind of place forces other people to kill each other?!”  _

He knew that humans have engaged in war, and are prone to all kinds of violence, but this was just getting ridiculous. Regardless of the fact, if she were in her shoes, she would do that too. 

He didn’t get too far in the book until he started feeling displaced in his own room. He closed the book and held it close. He felt itchy all over, and this time it wasn’t because of his developing wings. “Huh?” He said to himself. His body felt tingly, and his heart picked up speed. Adrenaline started to flow into his veins. Just what exactly was going on? 

He tried to speak more, but he suddenly felt like all the air inside him emptied out of his lungs. Instead, he coughed, and his mouth went dry.  _ “What’s going on…”  _ He thought. Was he getting sick again? Was it bad energy? Why was he feeling so riled up?

Ventus stood up. His chest was tight, and every muscle in his body was on edge. 

_ "Maybe I need some air,"  _ he thought. Still holding the book,he went out of his room, down a bunch of stairs and towards the great front hall. He pushed open the doors and hoped that a rush of air would come in and fill his lungs again. He breathed in, and after breathing out, he suddenly yelped as a headache tore through. His head was pounding and his heart was beating faster and faster. Before he could question what else was happening to him, his eyes forced themselves to open wide and he heard a thousand voices in his head, all talking at once, getting louder, and louder and louder. 

_ "....but will it-" _

_ "I heard the light, I was-" _

_ "Taken away. Taken far away-" _

_ "How much is it to get the other-" _

_ "Separation. That is the key to-" _

Their words poured down his ears, their thoughts burrowed inside of him, his chest felt like it was going to burst because he swore he could feel a choir of hearts beating alongside his. His own thoughts were drowned out by the noise. 

_ "Stop it...STOP STOP STOP STOP!"  _ He cried internally, trying to drown out the voices. He let out a pain-filled scream and all of the voices quieted. All except for one. 

_ "No one knew me. No one will remember me. This is...where I should belong.” _

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Nor could he believe what his body was doing. It still vibrated, and his heart lurched forward along with his legs, running towards something... someone. He was on autopilot, definitely, but this time, something was drawing him towards something specific. No, someone specific. 

  
  


_ "I’ll give in to the dark...I’ll give in to the nothing. It’s what I am. It’s what I’ll ever be. This place has no use for...a broken boy like me.” _

_ "That's not true! I've been broken _ _like you before! I know it hurts. But you won't be like that forever!"_ He wasn't sure where or how he could reach the voice, but he didn't care. He had to help someone, he had to be someone's light in the darkness. He ran faster and faster, until he got to the edge of the floating island and stepped off. 

_ "That voice...why did it sound so familiar?!" _

The moment his wings burst out, he felt a surge of powerful magical energy rise within him and he glowed brightly. 

He looked around at himself, radiating light. And not just any light, but 7 colors, as if he were a prism. 

**"Apologies, young one."**

He heard a voice boom inside his head. It was way louder than all the other voices that had spoken up earlier. Ventus held his head with the hand that wasn't holding the book. 

**"But I'll have to borrow your power. I sense someone within the darkness. Don't you as well?"**

"D-Darkness? Wh-what…?"

**"Ah, nevermind. It's been a while for you! You're pretty rusty, aren't you? And what's with all this gunk? Ah, nevermind. I'll make do with what I have."**

"Wait, what-" but before he could say anything else, his vision goes dark. 

_ The skies were at dusk. The moon was coming up. Yet a young one is still out, and didn't mind if he played in the night sky. He never minded the darkness, never feared it like the others.  _

_ As he played with his little ball, he heard a noise. He heard someone take a breath, and then let out a cry.  _

_ Curious, the boy dropped his ball, and ran towards the noise. It got louder and louder, until right behind a bush, he saw someone. A boy his age, all by himself, hugging himself and crying.  _

_ Sympathetic, the boy sat down by his side.  _

_ "Hi!" He said. "What's wrong? Are you ok?"  _

_ The other boy sniffled and looked up at him. "I'm…. I'm fine…" _

_ "But...why are you crying?" The boy is confused.  _

_ The other boy looked away. "I don't want to talk about it. Just leave me alone…" _

_ "But I want to help you! And everyone needs a little help sometimes. Please, can I help you?"  _

_ The other boy is silent. His head is still turned away, not facing him. He took in a deep breath.  _

_ "Fine. But it's not like you can change anything." _

_ The boy grinned. "We'll see about that!" He holds out a hand. "By the way, what's your name?"  _

_ The other boy turns to him. "You first. What's yours? Bet it's not cool as mine." He smirked.  _

_ "Well, my name is Ventus. But you can call me Ven!" _

_ "Huh. That's cool I guess. My name is-" _

A little while later, far away from the Land of Departure, closer to Limbo, under a dusty looking building, Ventus lay in a tired heap, his book right next to him. 

He was barely lucid, he kept blinking softly.

"Vanitas…." He whispered, and sleep took him far away. 


	6. Mnemonic Waltz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Aqua tries to convince Master Eraqus to let Ventus take his exams, Ventus and Vanitas meet once again, and another memory is revealed.

Aqua paced up and down right outside Eraqus' room. He wasn't in his study by the time she gathered enough courage to talk to him about Ven's exam. She knew she could talk to him about anything, but bringing up what had recently happened still made her a little nervous for some reason. 

_"I know our conversation won't be like how him and Ven argued earlier, and yet…"_

She could understand why Ventus was so upset. If this was her, she'd be upset too. " _But at the same time, I think the Master just wants to make sure Ven is safe. There is a magic part of the exams, and his magic isn't…"_

She remembered that Ventus could barely cast anything that weren't Aero spells. Fire was underpowered and not blue, Stop and Gravity were a struggle, and Thunder spells were almost impossible. Darkness based spells were either a miss, or peculiarly, a hit. But she only ever observed him using darkness once. Master Eraqus made sure to cut off any and all exposure to darkness. 

_"It will hurt him for sure,"_ Eraqus once explained to her. _"He can't handle even the slightest bit of darkness._ "

She always wondered about that. But she never asked, at least not until now. Swallowing hard, she marched up to his door. Her knuckles barely hit the wood when she knocked. 

She heard some shuffling come from the outside, and there he was, 2 pairs of his 3 paired wings spread out, resembling a cloak of silver and ivory. She noticed that they were looking neater than they usually were. He must have been grooming.

"Aqua!" He said with his trademark warm smile. His eyes slightly crinkled, and then widened when he saw how serious she was."What can I help you with?"

"Well…." Aqua said softly. "It's about Ven."

\--------------------

Meanwhile, Ventus was right where he was when the surge of power overtook his body. As he lay, back pressed to the abandoned building, he let out a soft moan. Light pierced his eyes as they slowly opened, but it didn't hurt at all. His head felt like someone stuffed a bunch of cotton in his head. He wasn't sure at all what happened. All he remembered was going outside, and then….

_Vanitas._

He jolted awake. "Vanitas?" He asked, and looked around. Why was he trying to look for _Vanitas_ of all people?

_"Scratch that, where the heck am I?!"_

His eyes darted about. He himself was fine, though really tired. His book was here next to him, for some reason. Where he was, this wasn't anywhere he recognized. It looked like some angelic settlement, what with the speaker buildings, some which floated off the ground, all strung together with lights. The sky was a dusty grey, with a few beams of light from way up above. Ventus squinted at the light. 

_"Wait a second…"_

Though those white citadels were definitely far far away, almost a whole planet away, he could clearly see with his angelic eyes that right under the light, the light of the Kingdom, was Scala ad Caelum. He knew that wherever he was, it would be a while before he could fly back to the Land of Departure. 

But here's the next question.

 _"Where am I? If this is an angelmade place, a big one that is, I should know about it._ "

He knew about Scala, about the much smaller Land of Departure, and about Twilight Town. But here? No idea. He took in a breath and his chest felt heavy. It was a little bit hard to breathe. The air was stagnant and he couldn't help but feel a little sluggish.

He slowly got up. He groaned when he felt that his body was sore. What happened? All he could remember was that there was a powerful light that burst out of him, not too dissimilar to his dream not too long ago. 

_"I remember… a voice telling me something. Telling me about Darkness and someone deep within it? But then I blacked out and then…"_

He had another dream, or another vision. Whatever it was, he knew he saw it. But what was it exactly? 

He blinked slowly, and tried to clear the mist that had gathered in his mind. 

_"Come on, I know I saw something! I know it…"_

What was it? What did he see? It was about Vanitas, he knew that much. He woke up whispering his name. But why? What was with that boy that he supposedly knew?! 

_"Come on, Ven! You've got this...think...think, thi-"_

"What the fuck are you doing here?" 

The voice knocked him straight out of his thoughts. Ventus blinked rapidly and he suddenly found himself face to face with _him_ again. He couldn't help but stare at the other boy, what struck at him first was his red beady eyes. They weren't as narrowed as they were when he last saw them. He saw them dart about, curiously looking the boy up and down.

"Um-" he started to say, and then the other boy pulled away from him. 

"Seriously, are you some type of stalker? How'd you even find a place like this, huh?" Vanitas crossed his arms. 

"Um…" he said nervously. How was he supposed to explain how or why he was here? Even _he_ didn't know!

"Whatever. Just fuck off." Vanitas turned away from him. "And if I find out that you're following me on purpose, I swear…"

He was rattling off about a bunch of things, and as he was, Ventus was pulled back in his thoughts. Something in his mind was calling him away. He blinked slowly. Vanitas was familiar. He knew it. His memories took him away to somewhere, a dark night, and a chance meeting of a young boy. 

_"Well, my name is Ventus. But you can call me Ven!"_

_"Huh. That's cool I guess. My name is-"_

That was it. That's how they knew each other...he wasn't sure when, he wasn't sure how, but they have met before. He knew it. 

Meanwhile, Vanitas was still talking.

"And then I'll definitely- aaaaaand you're not even listening. Great. I shouldn't be surprised, you've been a pain in the ass and a waste of my time." 

Ven jolted, and scrambled to his feet. 

"No wait, look. I know you. I know you from somewhere," he said firmly. "I know how I know your name. Look, this is going to sound crazy, but we've met before."

Vanitas blinked slowly. 

"What? Are you sure you didn't hit your head? That's crazy. That's absolutely crazy."

"Why do you say that?" Ventus asked, a little annoyed. "I had..uh, I saw something, or I remembered something. We were small, like kids or something. I somehow ran into you, I saw you, and we told each other our names. But that’s all I remember.”

Vanitas backed away a little. “You _saw_ something? You remembered something? That’s absolute shit. No way. Why should I even believe you? You’re just trying to stalk me or something.”

“But I’m not!” Ventus argued. “I’m not, honest! I don’t even know how I got here. I remember that a bunch of voices filled up in my head,and then this light came out of me, and then I heard a voice. Someone was calling out, they were sinking into this great darkness, and when I reached out, I felt all this light come out of me. I…” He paused, and tried to remember everything from that moment. He recalled how it all felt so sudden, how he didn’t have any time to process what had happened. Even now, he didn’t really stop to think about it. Whatever took him over, no doubt it would have had to be a powerful angel. It didn’t feel like a Shade. Shade energy was warped and malevolent, and it could poison the body it inhabited within. Ventus didn’t ever feel like he was in danger. Was it very unexpected? Yes. But he didn’t feel like he was in danger. 

_"But what angel took me over? I have no idea. I didn't sense anyone near me, and I don't remember much."_

"...you what?" Vanitas asked. He was getting impatient. "Hello? Earth to stupid!"

"Huh? Oh...right! Sorry. Look, I heard someone's voice, well a lot of voices, but someone's voice, saying how they should just give in to the dark...that there's no place for someone like them, a broken boy."

  
  


The moment the word broken boy left Ventus' lips, Vanitas flinched. He'd only been half paying attention to what the blond boy was talking about, up until those words came out. He rubbed his head. He remembered that he was falling. He remembered when the void under the abandoned city drew him in and tried to fully absorb him. He stared at his hands, which had begun to shake. Someone called out to him. Someone pulled him out of the dark. And that someone….

_"No fucking way. It couldn't be. No. He'd never."_

"Look, I-I don't know what you're saying. You're huffing helium or something. Go back to Scala or wherever and fuck off." 

Ventus pressed his lips together. 

He didn't realize it until now, but that voice sounded familiar. It was hard to make out who's voice it was at first, but when he gave it more thought, he realized that it was Vanitas'. Usually he sounded scratchy and irritated, but when Ventus heard him that day…

He sounded so hollow, so alone. Exhaustion was his voice, and sorrow exhaled out of his lips with every breath. 

Ventus knew what it meant to feel so helpless. Though Vanitas was most definitely an ass through and through, Ventus couldn't help but feel like there may be something else, something behind that mask.

"I...I know how you felt. It's probably why I...why something took me over and I was able to hear your voice, and maybe it's connected to how we could have met! Didn't you yourself get confused when I said your name back in the clock tower? I had to have known your name from somewhere, ri-"

"Stop this!" Vanitas shouted. 

Ventus flinched at the harshness of his voice. 

"Stop this. Stop, fucking talking about all of this, alright?! You fucking weirdo...Quit saying we know each other or some shit, alright?!" 

Ventus rubbed his arm. "Well I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset, I'm just trying to find out-"

"I am _not_ broken! What the fuck would you even know?! You follow me for a few fuckin minutes and now you claim to know me from some fucking lifetime ago?!" 

"I'VE BEEN LIKE YOU BEFORE, ALRIGHT?!" he shouted. 

Vanitas was actually shocked enough to stop speaking. 

He blinked rapidly, and let out a laugh. 

"Well, well. Angel boy here has a mouth. Isn't that a nice surprise?" His teeth grinded against each other. 

"I know what it's like to be completely…. completely hollowed out. I wasn't even able to speak or feel anything when I was brought to the Land of Departure, to someone who could take care of me. And maybe the same didn't happen to you, but I heard those...those words. They were from you and I don't want anyone to feel like that. I know you're a jerk but I don't want you to feel like you have no effect on the world...the world needs each and every angel."

Vanitas sat there silently, anger stewed under his skin. More and more bullshit poured out of this kid's mouth, as if he knew-

And then a thought appeared, bursting into his head. Not a thought, but a vision. Not a vision but….a memory? 

_There were two children, one with dark hair, one with blond hair. They sat side by side in a big tree, looking up at the sky, said sky full of little twinkling lights far far away._

Vanitas could only mumble as the memory took over his mind. He was going to wonder what was up with the stupid sky, but part of him somehow knew. 

They were stars. 

This was when stars were in the sky. 

But he couldn't have known or even existed back then, before the stars fell...right? Because that was long, long ago. 

_The darkness was lit up by the glittering lights. All around them, the two could hear the chirps of cicadas, the rustling of leaves from the wind. The blond boy sat closer to the dark-haired boy and he shivered slightly._

_"Why are you hanging out with me?" the dark-haired boy asked. “Aren’t you scared? You should be scared.”_

But he didn't remember this. This couldn't be real, it had to be another trick-

_“Why would I be scared? I’m not, and I’m not scared of you. I’m a light in the dark, so I won’t be scared. I’ll never be scared.” The blond boy smiled and slipped his hand to the other boy’s hand, and held it softly. Their tiny palms were hand to hand, fingers soon intertwined._

_The dark haired boy snorted. “Alright, fine. Then I’m not scared of you either. And I want to stay with you, but just you. Fuck everyone else.”_

_“That’s a bad word!” The blond admonished. “Besides, not everyone thinks of you like that…and if they do, then that’s whatever. You’ll show them. I believe in you, and so will they.”_

_There was a small silence, before the other boy spoke up again. “Whatever. I don’t need them...I don’t need them to tell us that we’re cursed.”_

_“We’re not,” he argued. “Things are just different. They should understand that.”_

Vanitas wondered what that meant, what it all meant. He swore he did not remember this, yet it was his own voice, his own face, looking up at all those stars, talking with someone who couldn’t _possibly_ be Ventus. There was no way he’d talk with that spindly pathetic boy unless he absolutely had to. There was no way.  
But that memory lingered in his thoughts. It was new to him, the rest of his mind welcomed it as if it were a friend who had returned from a trip from far away. Once it settled fully in his mind, he knew it wouldn’t ever leave him, much to his confusion and annoyance.

“You...you said we met before,” Vanitas said. He wrinkled his face and shuffled his feet around.

Ventus nodded. “I did. I had this memory of us. I don't know when or where we were, but I know that we were together. But I can barely remember those times." He wasn't sure when it even happened. Angels didn't age the same way humans do, so the two of them meeting must have happened a _long_ time ago. 

  
  


"Well whatever happened, it happened. Things are different now. This doesn't mean we're friends or anything. If anything, this makes me kind of hate you." He turned away and scowled. 

Ventus stepped back, he wasn't surprised by his expression, it was Vanitas after all, but it still hurt. 

"I...why?" It was all he could say before his mouth went dry. 

"It means I've always been stuck to you. I hate that. I want everyone to fuck off and leave me alone, but you just keep sticking around! I don't get it! Why would I ever want to be with someone so goddamn annoying and worthless?" 

"B-But I'm not...it's not even like that!" he looked away, and held his other arm. "I'm sorry…" he mumbled.He wasn't even sure why he was saying sorry. His chest burned slightly. Worthless. Worthless. Worthless. The word cut him open and left him to bleed on the streets. _Worthless._

Of course he would be reminded about his exam. Of course he would be reminded that said exam was cancelled, because of something trivial. Of course Master Eraqus would go on to see him as a daffodil, a baby bird, more fragile than air itself. _Worthless._

Perhaps that was why the exam was cancelled. 

_Liability._

A knot formed in his stomach and he looked away. He could feel tears bubble up and rise to his lashes. 

_"Great, now I'm crying, and Vanitas is gonna say more shit. I know he's gonna."_

"Well f-fine…" he said. He breathed in heavily. "Fine. Say it if you want. Maybe if you're lucky, you and no one else will never have to hear from me ever again!" His wings flared out, tightly around his body. 

Vanitas bit down on his lip. His bones ached, when he saw how Ventus reacted. 

"Look, I-" he stepped forward slightly, his hand was extended to Ventus, but then he pulled back when the blond glared at him. "I didn't mean it like, like that. I just…" he let out a frustrated huff. _"Oh so now I'm guilty all of a sudden? Because he's sad? I said the truth, didn't I? He's a fucking leech."_

Yet his hands were shaking, and his jaw was tight. He wasn't truly mad at Ventus, no. This flame of anger was at _himself_. But why?

He felt like he had said the wrong thing, like he had betrayed himself somehow. Not just him, but Ventus too. But he couldn't understand. What was one stupid memory to him, huh? It didn't matter. No one mattered, not as long as he was stuck in some shitty hollowed out town with the king of assholes. 

But he kept looking at this boy, part of him wanted him beat down for what he had said. 

He let out another frustrated sigh. Emotions were such a mess. 

"Look...I'm...I didn't mean what I said. You aren't worthless. How could you be when you're up there and stuff?"

"I'll never be a guardian...I'll never be anything to anyone." He refused to meet Vanitas' eyes. "There. Are you happy now?" 

There was a long, tense silence before Vanitas answered.

"...No, I'm not. I'm not happy. I...I didn't mean what I said, honest. I just said that cause...cause I'm kind of an asshole. That's my thing."

"Damn right you're an asshole," he muttered. 

Vanitas let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah! That's me! An asshole! So don't sweat what I say, really." 

There wasn't much of a reply. Ventus still didn't look at him, much to his disappointment. 

_"Do I gotta say that word? Oh for fuck's sake Ven.…."_

"Look...I'm sorry. Ok? I'm sorry for what I said. I'm sorry that you're like, crying about it." 

"I wasn't crying." Ventus said bitterly. 

"Alright, whatever. But I am, ok? I don't...want you to feel like that."

"Oh really?" His green eyes were sharp. "What changed your tune all of a sudden, huh?" 

Now it was Vanitas' turn to look away. "Because…Because it just didn't feel right to me, alright? That's why. Don't read too much into it! Just stop crying already, I said I was sorry." 

"Hmph." Ventus crossed his arms. "As if just saying sorry is gonna fix everything." 

He groaned. "What more do you want from me?" 

"I…" his voice was soft. "I don't want it to be true. I don't want to be this weakling that can't stand for himself. I don't want to stay behind and watch everyone level up past me. I don't want people saying I'm weak!" He clenched his fists. Seeing Eraqus in his mind only made him more upset. 

"Well, I guess I can agree with that one. I don't want any idiot to underestimate me either. I want to be feared, a force to be reckoned with."

"I want to use my power to protect someone!" Ventus said proudly. "Just like Aqua and Terra. They're the strongest angels I know!" He wiped his tears. 

Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, ok, whatever you say. You really are a soft-serve Scala boy, aren't you?" 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ventus asked. "You make it sound like everything I say is a bad thing."

"It's annoying. You're so...happy or whatever, wanting to serve humans or some shit." He let out a scoff.

"Isn't that the whole point?" Ventus asked. "Like, the whole point as to why we're here, why we're all training?"

"Maybe for you, yes, but not me." He folded his arms. 

"Why not? What are you training for? You must have been training a lot since you have three pairs of wings already. Oh! And I remember you saying I was following you or something, which I wasn't by the way. Is this where you train with your Master?"

Vanitas let out a sharp laugh, though it was more like a clap of thunder to Ventus' ears. 

"Uh, what's so funny?" 

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I train wherever I fuckin can." He stretched. 

"But...why would you train here? There's…. nothing here." 

He looked around and saw how dusty and desolate the nearby buildings were. No wonder he had never heard of this place. It had to be haunted for sure. 

"Just the way I like it." Vanitas said gruffly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should get back to training." He turned to leave. 

"Um, wait!" Ventus said. "Uh, how do I get out of here? I uh...I'm really far from where I should be, and um...I don't have enough energy to fly up." He fluffed out his wings. They were slightly duller than usual. He was almost out of juice entirely. 

Vanitas groaned. "Don't tell me you're out of lux. Seriously?" 

"Well it's not my fault!" Ventus huffed. "I had to save someone from the darkness after all!" 

"Ohhhh fuck that, you didn't save anyone." 

_"Nope. I don't care if I saw him. I was clearly tripping balls. It couldn't have been him!"_

"Are you suuuure?" He smirked at him.

"Oh for fucks sake, please don't start acting like we're friends or something. Look, if I get you back up there will you leave me alone?" 

"Maybe." 

"Oh for fucks sake...good enough for me." He grumbled. A wave of warmth washed over him when he pulled Ventus close to him. He thought of it as a strange feeling, but apparently the rest of his body didn't think so.His fingers happily tingled when they wrapped around his hips. 

Ventus let out a nervous giggle. He gave Vanitas a tiny smile. "Hey, at least there's no Shades in sight, right?"

_"Oh shut up…"_

As much as he hated being this close to _anyone_ , he could stomach it for once, as long as he didn't stare at the other guy too much. He summoned his wings. 

"Ok, to….Scala or whatever."

He should have been nervous about the fact that Xemnas might find out that he wasn't training like he was supposed to, but at that moment, he didn't care. He was too busy fighting off any and all thoughts about the blondie in front of him, as well as his dorky smile. Ventus clung to him as they rose up into the sky. 

_"Don't_ _look at him don't look at him don't-"_

When they rose out of the blanket of mist that covered the city, they were awash with sunlight. All Vanitas could do was stop and stare at how the light hit him, showing off his halo. A crown of light sat atop his head, the sun started to softly kiss his rosy cheeks, and his green eyes were a field of wildflowers. 

Vanitas wanted to curse himself. Was his endless chants for nothing? Why did he have to turn his head and look into his eyes? He couldn't tear his eyes away, even when his face twisted into a scowl under his mask. 

_"So what if he's easy on the eyes? So what if he 'saved me'? It means nothing. We might not even see each other after this…"_

"Vanitas?" Ventus said softly. 

"What?" 

"Um, nothing, sorry." Ventus held on to him as much as he could. He didn't mind being this close to him, jackass attitude and all. He felt safe in his arms. They were thousands of miles among the clouds, and still climbing, but that didn't bother him. It never did. Surprisingly, Vanitas wasn't too rough with him. His fingers were calloused, yes. But he steadily had his arm around Ventus' hips, and the other hand held his arm, almost like the two were going to waltz. 

Ventus spoke up again. "Well, I was going to say, thanks for helping me. You didn't have to fly me here, but you did."

Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, whatever. You wouldn't shut up until I did. And like, cause of the thing I said." 

He sighed. "You're annoying as fuck, but you're not worthless, ok? I don't know what the fuck is up with you, I don't know why I have that stupid memory or whatever of it, but just...just work hard and don't slack off. Ok? If you really want to protect people or some shit, you gotta work your ass off."

Ventus nodded. "I do, but... sometimes I feel like it's never enough."

Vanitas scoffed. "Or you aren't doing it hard enough. Do it harder. Work until you want to pass out from the pain. Block out the pain, it's pretty easy. Our bodies are for show usually, aren't they?"

Ventus blinked in surprise. "Uh, no? Doesn't that sound extremely unhealthy? It's not a good idea to overwork yourself. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Besides, that's what Terra was doing currently, and all it was doing was depriving his body of much needed light energy. Terra looked absolutely exhausted everytime he returned to the castle. 

"I'd you really want something, there's no such thing as overdoing it in my opinion." 

"But aren't breaks good?" 

"You can't ever take a break from being yourself." He flicked his wings with annoyance. 

"Oh...I guess you have a point there...but you didn't have to be so mean about it."

Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Weren't you paying attention? This is how I am. I'm an asshole."

"Why?" Ventus asked. It made no sense to him. "Wouldn't you want to be nicer?" 

"Of course you'd ask something like that," he said. "It's just how I am, how I've always been." He looked past his mop of blond hair, and saw the marble white buildings of Scala. 

"We're almost there by the way."

With another flick of his wings, Vanitas darted even more upwards. 

\--------

Meanwhile, Aqua had been talking still.

"Master...I understand how damaged Ventus was when he arrived here, but he's changed. He's grown, he's gotten as strong as we could ever expect him to! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Aqua, of course it does," Master Eraqus said. His voice was slightly tense. "But he still has a lot more growing to do. And I fear how much those monsters set him back, or the darkness used by that other angel he talked about." He sighed. "I'm lucky his heart didn't shatter right then and there."

"Right," Aqua said. “But don’t you think his heart has healed from then?”

“It’s possible,” Eraqus mused. “But I don’t know. His heart isn’t like ours. In fact, nothing about him is like us, much to my confusion.”

She gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, there’s something about his heart, something strange about it. Though every heart has a balance of light and darkness, his is completely devoid of darkness. Not only that, but…” he sighed. “You remember the day I brought him here, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“Well, that day was the first time I met him too. A bunch of angels sensed high level Shade activity near the ruins from Daybreak. When we got there, all we were greeted with was Ventus. He was cold, barely clothed, clinging to this world, darkness surrounded him, his heart was in pieces. If there’s something I know I want to do, I never want to see him like that. I…”

He paused, and took a deep resounding breath. “I’m being strict, I know. But I don’t know why he was in Daybreak of all places, I was sure that place was sealed off once it fell. But there he was, all by himself. It’s stumped me to this day as to what he is and where he came from. If I’m ever going to find out, I can’t have him near anything that could risk shattering his heart.”

“Oh, I see,” Aqua said. “He should be safe enough to take his exams. Maybe add extra supervision for exam day? That could help…” 

“This is more than his exams, Aqua.” Eraqus said sternly. He leaned forward. “Suppose I allow it now. Suppose he passes and becomes an archangel, he gets assigned a human, he visits the mortal realm and runs into a Shade, or any kind of monster down there. He may not be fully equipped to handle them.”

“I know you’re worried about him, but that comes with the risk that every guardian runs into,” She gave him a calm, patient smile. I know you’re scared for him, but he can do it. You’ve taught him well. But we won’t know until we see him apply those skills. Holding him back might just do more damage.” She frowned. “Please reconsider?”

There was silence as Eraqus sat back and tapped his chin. His brow was furrowed, and all Aqua could do was watch with bated breath. She did as best as she could, it was now up to him. She hoped that he’d be able to see what she was talking about, that he was just delaying the inevitable. Ventus had to take those tests eventually. Even his teacher couldn’t postpone them forever. 

“I’ll...I’ll think about it,” Eraqus said. His eyes briefly darted about, and then he let out a sigh. “You’re worried about him a lot, just like I am, and we both want the best for him. So, I’ll take your words into consideration. Alright?”

She smiled and nodded. “Alright. Thank you.” 

Eraqus smiled. “I’m glad we had this discussion.” He stepped out of his room. “Would you like to take a walk?"

Aqua nodded. "I would."

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am....so sorry that it took so long for this chapter...I've been managing a Kingdom Hearts role-play server and I've been focusing on making sure it was running smoothly, haha. Let me know if you're interested in joining btw owo


	7. A Duel with Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas drops off Ventus at Scala, as per his request. But Vanitas sees that Ventus forgot a book that he had dropped back at the Realm that Never Was. When Vanitas goes back to Ven to give it back to him, Ventus has a proposal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD HI LONG TIME NO SEE, I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T BEEN HERE QAQ  
> Long story short, school has been kicking my butt. But I'm back with a slightly longer chapter this time!

"How are we?" Vanitas asked. 

Ventus didn’t really pay too much attention to what he said. The blond couldn't help but blush from seeing him this up close. He wouldn't lie, Vanitas was very easy on the eyes, even with his mask on. It hugged tightly to his face and outlined his cheekbones and a sharp jawline.   
  
“Hello?! Earth to blondie!”   
  
“Gah! I-I'm alright,” he stuttered.   
  
Vanitas snorted, and Ven looked away. His face heated up from the embarrassment. Part of him wanted to ask about his mask, but he decided against it. Maybe later. 

Vanitas spread his wings out. Since he never had to carry another person before, he'd have to use a lot more Aero magic than usual to keep afloat. Not that he cared, he had enough lux to spare, unlike the idiot he had to carry. His sleeved arms naturally curled around Ventus' hips, and though Ven’s face was turned away, there was still little wiggle room in between them. _  
_ Ventus' cheeks were a little pink, and Vanitas definitely noticed. 

_"Is he serious? Oh boy. I know I'm easy on the eyes but come on. Maybe I should have just held him by the arms._ "

The wind whipped and whooshed around them, clouds were billowing under their feet. 

Ventus' eyes glittered. It was becoming sunset, and the sky danced with pink and gold colors. Beams of light shot out of the clouds. 

His smile was as wide as the atmosphere. He'd seen many a sunset, but he didn't fly through them much often, let alone get this close to the sun. He stuck a hand out, and he admired the way light traveled through the cracks of his hand. 

"It's so beautiful," he murmured. "It reminds me of this one book I read, it was about how a human wrote down his discoveries about our world." He had read such a book not too long ago. He remembered that the human author described this realm as a paradise, a realm beyond space and time, a blinding beautiful light that looked over Limbo and the realm of Darkness. 

They were definitely right. It was times like these that filled Ventus with joy, wanting to be here. 

"You really think that's beautiful?" He scoffed. "It's just a sunset. That's all. Going from one shitty day to the next."

"I don't think so," Ventus argued. "The next day is full of all kinds of opportunities and possibilities."

"Easy for you to say," Vanitas muttered. "I'd love to say that myself but...some of us aren’t as lucky.”

His ears perked up. “Um, what does that mean?”

Vanitas didn’t answer. The air around them filled the space in which his words would have gone.  
Ventus wasn’t sure if he should try bringing it up again or not. With the way Vanitas was from all their previous interactions, he’d either say something snarky and mean again or just ignore him.   
But a bit after flying past cloud #103, the masked boy spoke up. His voice was so low, Ventus was lucky to pick up anything. 

“Just, be glad you’re up there and not where I am.”

And where was he exactly? Everything about the boy was mysterious. He wore a mask, his wings were black, He was hanging around an unmarked part of land, and they knew each other from a place long long ago. 

Part of him wanted to find out more, the other part wanted to bid this jerk farewell.   
And as for a miniscule part…   
_“I can’t stop thinking about that memory,”_ he thought. _“He seemed like a totally different person. It was unimaginable. I wonder what has changed…”_

“You’re still on about that dumb thing I talked about earlier?”  
  
Ventus tilted his head. “You’re going to have to be more specific.” He then smiled. “You said a bunch of dumb things today.”

“I-” He pressed his lips together. _“Well well well. The blondie is getting more and more sassy. Isn’t that interesting. Maybe it’s a little cute too._

“Shut up. I could drop you right now if I wanted to.”

Ven’s smile got a little more smug. “But you’re not going to, are you?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Venty Wenty.” He let out a grumble and held him tighter. “I could drop you at any point, just watch me. They’d probably have to scrape you off the ground.”

He snickered. “Venty _Wenty?”_

“Yes. Now shut up so I can focus on getting you back to Light knows where.”

Ventus let out the most gleeful laugh. “Sure thing, _Vani Wani.”_

The other boy almost choked. “Wh-what- you-” He removed one of his arms so he could flick Ventus on his forehead.

“Ow!” He rubbed the spot. “What was that for, huh?” He kept up his cheeky grin.

“You are _not_ on Vani Wani privileges.” His voice was gruff.

“Does that mean there’s someone out there on Vani Wani privileges?”

“Oh you mother fucker- NO ONE IS ON VANI WANI PRIVILEGES.” 

“Well, then you can’t call me Venty Wenty.”

“Trust me, I’d rather not call you by anything,” he said. “Anyways, we’re landing in Scala, right?”

Ventus thought about correcting him so he could go to the Land of Departure, but then he decided against it. 

_“Maybe the master will be worried once he figures out I left, but you know what? That’s fine. I really need time out of there. Besides, we might as well land here.”_

Vanitas let out a sigh of relief when the landing docks for Scala appeared. It of course was teeming with angels, as it always was. He touched down on one of the long runways and used his wings to balance himself, though it was a little tricky The air was different than when he was in the . Then he called them away and they disappeared. 

“We’re here, finally.” 

Ventus wiggled out of his grasp. “Thank you!” He said. But then….he remembered something. 

“Oh..I left behind my book back where you were training.” He rubbed his head.

Vanitas crossed his arms. “Well, too bad for Venty Wenty. I’m not an errand boy. Go get it back yourself.” 

Ventus couldn’t help but laugh. There was that nickname again. “I thought I said you couldn’t call me Venty Wenty? And wouldn’t me getting it mean we’d run into each other again?”

He actually didn’t mind that Vanitas kept calling him that.

“I- will you wipe that grin off your face? Look, I got you here, my end of the deal is done, and I really don’t want anyone staring at me right now.” His eyes shifted around. Of course a few angels noticed him. He was the one cloaked in elaborate black, gold and red. His ear twitched. People were definitely whispering about him, he just somehow knew. 

Ventus glanced around. Of the mixture of people gawking at them, most were very curious. Others did not look at them with kindness at all, a few glares were shot their way. It was most likely the aura of darkness that Vanitas carried. Did everyone else in Scala see darkness the way Master Eraqus did? 

He turned back to Vanitas. From the way he slightly deflated, Ventus guessed that Vanitas knew he was the center of attention. 

“Oh, um, yeah. Sorry, I interrupted your training, didn’t I?” 

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I got a lot done, anyways.” He took a glance at the gawkers and sighed. “And as much as I’d love to get out of here…” He rubbed his back. “I must have used up more lux than I thought.” 

  
“Wait, really?” Ventus asked. “Then again, it was a long way to rise, wasn’t it? And also, how many times have you flown all the way to Scala? Maybe the change in air pressure added to your loss of lux too?”

“I guess that could be it,” he mumbled. “Anyways I only need a few seconds, that’s all. All I have to do is take off and I’m sure I can just float all the way back down.” 

“Alright well, in the meantime…” He looked around. This was the first time he ever got to go somewhere in Scala without being supervised. He started to get excited. He wondered what he could see while he was here. He could check out the library, or maybe the observatory. Buildings like those had to be much bigger than the ones in the Land of Departure. 

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. “So what? It’s mischief time?” 

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “But I’ve never been anywhere around Scala all by myself.”

Vanitas scoffed. “You get excited over the most mundane things. You’re like a...agh, I don’t know. A little dove. One of those restless ones who need to come out.” 

“That’s exactly what I am!” He said. “I never get to go anywhere by myself! But now I can, or at least until my energy is recharged. And I really want to check out the library.” 

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. “Do you?” 

Ventus nodded. “I do, I really do!” He bounced off his heels. “So, I’m gonna head there. You can um...I don’t know, you probably don’t want to follow me, do you?”

“Finally, something we both can agree on.” 

“Well, that’s ok. Besides, there are so many books I can read to keep myself busy.” He chewed on his lip as he looked at Vanitas. “Um, I guess this is goodbye?”

“I guess so. I feel a little bit better, so I’m going to head off.” He slowly turned to go back to the docks. 

Ventus was only a touch disappointed, but just a touch. He didn’t really want to hang with a pessimist that much, especially when he was wanting to cheer himself up from…

He sighed. _“Just don’t think about it.”_

“See ya, then.” He waved Vanitas off. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Vanitas walked away.

_“Alright,”_ Ven thought. _“Library time!”_ He sped off. 

\----------------

Vanitas sighed as he floated back down, all the way to the abandoned city. Since he was going nice and slow, the altitude didn’t bother him that much like it did earlier, thankfully. But what was bothering him was his thoughts once again. His arms felt light and bare, now that he wasn’t carrying someone anymore. And though it was quieter, which he liked, he couldn’t help but admit that maybe flying with Ventus wasn’t so bad. But it was still at least a little annoying. 

_“What could possibly get someone to smile the way he did? At things like sunlight, libraries and looking at other worlds? It doesn’t make sense. He’s a frilly upper heights boy. Shouldn’t he already have whatever the hell he wants? Unless he really was a restless caged bird. But whatever. It’s not like it matters to me. I’ll probably never see him again._ _  
_ It was for the better anyways. An angel like that probably shouldn’t be getting caught up in Vanitas’ mess. Especially since he was supposed to send the upper spires of Scala a hurricane. 

_“It’d be a shame,”_ he thought. _“If he were going to get caught up. I wonder what his face would look like if he knew why I was all the way down in the abandoned city.”_

He could see it now, in the near future, a storm of fire and brimstone would blow about, all the way up to the tip tops of the citadels. He never really thought about it until now, about how much chaos he was supposed to summon. But it wasn’t like his superiors made it _easy_ for him. He stuck out like a sore thumb, especially with the mask on. He didn’t even really know why he had to hide his face, but he did so just so none of the rest of them would give him shit about it later. 

He kept floating down, past the bright sun and its parade of twilight. He leaned back. It would still be quite a while until he was able to touch the ground. In the meantime, of course his thoughts would flit around his mind. And though he tried thinking about the rest of his tasks that he had to do, he would once again start thinking about that boy. 

_“Alright, what is with me?!”_ He was getting more and more annoyed. _“He’s just some guy. That’s all. Just some guy. So quit thinking about him!”_

But it was easier said than done. Earlier, Ventus had implied that he was the one who saved him from when he almost plunged straight into the void. And there were those old memories to sort out. The more he thought about them, the more he couldn’t ignore this sudden longing in his heart. It was like his mind was a desert, and nostalgia was the oasis. Something he desired, something he longed for. From the snapshot of memory that he was able to get, it really did seem to be something from long ago, something he wanted once more. Even if Ventus was next to him, those times represented simple days of relaxing, no overworking himself into a frenzy. 

But as much as he wanted something like that, he had to come to terms what his current situation was. There was no point in daydreaming about things that would never come to be ever again. Chasing after fleeting dreams would just drive him to madness. 

He faced away from the sun, and sunk under the clouds. 

A bit later, he was back where he was, before Ventus crash landed into his training routine. He was just about to return to where he was, until something caught his eye. He squinted. By a nearby wall, within the barren streets and buildings, was a book. He picked it up. It was in the spot where Ventus was when Vanitas found him, and therefore it was the book that Ventus mentioned earlier. He squinted. The letters jumbled together in his brain as he flipped through the pages. Sometimes it would make sense in his brain, but right when he was able to form proper sentences, the letters would scramble once more and he’d have to start over. Whatever language this book was in, it seemed to be something not made from angels, but from humans. Humans had way too many languages and they completely bastardized the one language they didn’t invent on their own. He knew humans had different versions based off of the Angelic tongue, but it all sounded ugly and grating whenever he heard his superiors use it briefly. 

_“Idiot left his book here of all places?”_ He sighed. _“Now I gotta go give it back to him or something. Great. He could be all over Scala. And how the hell can he actually read this crap? My head hurts.”_

He looked around. Of course he was still alone, and he wasn’t sure if he’d actually be missed. After all, as long as he showed his face back at their base for at least 3 or so days, he should be fine.   
_“I’m only doing this because he forgot his book. That’s all.”_ _  
_ He held the book close to his chest, and flipped through the pages again. He looked at the spine of the book, the front, the back. Before his brain started melting from the ugly scrawl, he was able to at least make out a few parts of what was written on the back's summary. It seemed to be a story, a story about a young girl. Civilization had broken down of course, and now the upper government had required two kids from each faction to fight to death. When she volunteers in place of her sister who was picked….

 _"Humans having to fight to death? Huh_ . _This actually sounds interesting. I didn't think mortals could even handle death, let alone write so casually about it. Well, I still can't read this shit though."_ Vanitas thought, and gently closed the book. _"Maybe if I give it back to him...no! Look, I'm only doing this so Blondie's junk isn't lying around,"_ He told himself. 

He sighed and spread his wings out one more time. 

_"I should still have enough lux…"_

He took a running start, and sprinted. The wind whipped past his hair and he was sure he could make it. He wasn't going to fall into any void. The edge of the world was still a long ways away. He just needed enough lift. He exhaled heavily through his nose and mouth. He kicked up and his wings flailed about.

"Come on!" He yelled. "If I can't lift my wings up what good am I?" He forced his shoulder blades together and flew up as much as he could. His body vibrated. It felt like there was lead inside him. He really didn't have much luck to ride back up, did he? He'd have to depend on wind currents and whatever magic he could muster up. He squinted and glided to a wind current. With the eyes of an angel, he could see the air dance and whip around his head, as if they were dancers of ballet. 

He flicked his wings and he was blasted upwards. With the amount of positive air energy and the growing light of the sun, Vanitas felt himself start to refresh. 

_"That's more like it,"_ he thought. _"This boy better be so lucky I'm coming back with this stupid book."_

He flipped through it more as he continued to ascend. He wasn't sure how Ventus was at all able to read this. Either he was crazy enough to make sense of it...or smart enough somehow. 

_"Gotta hand it to him, he probably has more patience than me,"_ he thought begrudgingly. _"I'd chuck this book into the void if I could."_

The sky started to turn more colors as he rose. It was still mainly a canvas of sunset, but hints of the night started to peek around the corner. He could see the moon start to rise, as well as Venus make its way onto the stage. 

It made sense to him that it would take a little bit longer to get to Scala this time. 

More of the sky turned dark by the time he finally touched down. Though the sun gave lux energy in bigger quantity to him, he preferred being under the moon's light. 

Scala wasn't as busy as before, but it was still buzzing with activity. Angels all about glowed as the moon started to rise. Even Vanitas', his wings black as charcoal, the individual veins of each feather became ever so luminescent. 

He didn't notice, however. One thing was on his mind. Find Ventus.

  
  
  


Meanwhile, the blond looked out the window as he sat up at the top of the citadel. He had a book lying in his lap, and had almost made a fortress around him with the other books he picked through. It was getting very late. If Master Eraqus wasn't making a fuss earlier, he most certainly was now. And if not him, then Aqua and Terra.

He sighed and got up. He stretched, and fanned out his wings. He felt better overall, nothing like a romp in the library to calm down and cheer up. But what still ached in his heart was of course his exam, or lack thereof. 

_"Even if I end up going to the mortal realm once, just once, I still want to go!"_

He sighed and picked up the books he wanted to borrow and headed to the front desk. He dejectedly signed his name in the checkout area and held his hand out so the librarian could stamp his hand. Said stamp would start to glow and make his hand ache if he didn't return the books on time. The librarian handed him a satchel so he could carry his books.

_"So now I gotta explain why I was gone for so long,"_ he thought. That surely was going to be a pleasant conversation. He hoped they wouldn't take away his books. And then there was the book he left all the way down where Vanitas was. How he was supposed to get that, he wasn't sure. 

_"One problem at a time,"_ he thought. 

He left the library's giant halls. He wasn't tired at all and he finally had enough Lux to journey home. 

He stepped outside and breathed in and out. Little bits of anxiety poked at him as he walked to the drop zone. He surely wouldn't be trapped like this forever, right? Eventually he'd have to take the test. 

_"I wonder if I could tell the Owls if...no, I don't want to get the Master in trouble. He's just trying to protect me...but…"_

He shook his head. He'll just have to train harder, and harder. 

As he walked back to head home, he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned around, and to his surprise, it was the masked boy again, no one other than Vanitas. 

"Huh?" Ventus asked. His eyebrows were raised. Did Vanitas not go home? 

Vanitas sighed, and held the book out, not saying a word. 

Ventus looked down, and his eyes widened. "Oh! You have it with you...wait, does this mean you did indeed go and get it back?" 

"Ah, don't get any ideas, Venty Wenty," Vanitas sneered. "I just wanted to give this to you, so you wouldn't lose it. That's all." 

Ventus couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Didn't you say I should handle that problem myself?" He asked. 

"Ah- Well I didn't want you down in my turf anymore so yeah. Anyways, will you take the book already?" He pushed it into his arms. 

"Alright Alright," Ventus said. He rolled his eyes and slung it into his grasp, and stuffed it into his bag, next to the 3 other books.

Vanitas stared at him as he did so. Just how much of a nerd was he?

He cleared his throat.

"You went and got more books, didn't you?" He said. _"You idiot, of course he did! What kind of a question is that?!"_

"Huh? Oh! Yeah...they're just more stories, that's all. You can call me whatever is cooking in that head of yours, but I like them." He gripped the handle of his bag tightly.

"Relax, I'm not gonna say anything." Vanitas said. He put his hands up behind his head. "Besides, better you read them then whatever I was gonna do with them."

Ventus squinted."And what _were_ you going to do with them?" 

"Nothing! I can't even read them. They're in this stupid bastard language. How the hell can you make head or tail of it?"

Ventus chuckled again. "It's called English."

"Eng..lish?" Vanitas repeated. He couldn't help but shudder. "What the fuck kind of language is that?" 

"It's one of the mortal tongues," he said. "I learned it like, I don't know. A few years ago. One of my friends gave the book to me while they were in the mortal realm. It's actually one of my favorites, but I kinda say that for every book."

"You can actually read mortal tongues?" Vanitas asked. "That's...huh. Not bad."

He sighed. "So what is it about."

Ventus tilted his head. "Huh?"

"The book, I mean. What is it about? How does the... never mind, this is so stupid." 

"It's not. It's...I think some of the main themes are doing what's right, even if you have to sacrifice something. The girl, she sacrificed her life in order to save someone else. And throughout the book you have to see how much she'll have to work if she has any chance of seeing the family she loves again."

"It's about humans fighting to the death, isn't it?" Vanitas pointed out. "Do you really think she'd be able to handle the sin of murder on her hands?" 

"Maybe not but...I think she just has to do what she has to do. Her sister is that much important to her, isn't she?" 

_"Being driven to risk your life and the purity of your soul, just to save someone else…"_ Vanitas shook his head. _"Humans sure are dramatic as angels. No wonder they frivolously have 500 languages or whatever. Maybe they want to outdo us."_

"And of course there's more themes in there but...that's the one I pay attention to the most. I think she's really noble, for wanting to protect her sister. And the way the humans in charge parade the other ones who have to fight, it's…" he trailed off and shook his head. "To say it's not right is an understatement, seriously. They have to be separated from their families and forced into an arena to pick each other off. Last one surviving wins, all the while the ones in charge get to _really_ claim victory." 

Vanitas looked away. His voice lowered.

"Then I guess someone has to do something then, right? I can't imagine anyone trying to hold me down like that." 

And after he said that, he remained silent, and the only noises coming from him were his clothes as he shifted about uncomfortably. 

Ventus barely heard what he had said. He was intrigued. Clearly, Vanitas was thinking about _something_. But it could be anything. 

Something must have resonated with him. Why else would the loudmouth all of a sudden not say anything? 

Did he like the story so far? Did he relate with something in there? 

Ventus opened his mouth to ask a question.

"So y-"

"How does it end? Does she die? She probably dies. But with a book that thick, maybe she does happen to pull through. And if she does, does she see her sister and go back to her shitty life?" 

Ventus raised his eyebrows. He's a bit surprised, but it's kind of a pleasant surprise. "I thought it was just a dumb story to you."

"It is, but you might as well tell me how it ends," he grumbled. 

Ventus sighed and pressed his lips together for a moment. "Maybe if you stopped calling everything stupid I'd actually want to share something with you."

"Oh for- oh come on, don't be like that. Everything is stupid to me, ok? Just tell me how the dumb book ends or whatever. It's not like anything humans make is actually good or anything."

"If that's so, why are you so insistent on learning the ending? It's not that dumb if you keep wanting to hear about it. Does _everything_ have to be stupid with you? Is there anything you actually care about?" Ventus felt like he was some human mother scolding her baby. 

"That- you- ugh, you know what, I don't even care. I just...wanted to know. It sounded kind of interesting. I was sure humans were just squishy beans who couldn't handle anything." 

"The only things I know about them are what are in their stories. 

"They're not easy to learn at all," Ventus grumbled. "But it's worth it once you get the hang of it! You get to do all kinds of things if you know more languages. And it helps you be a better guardian once you get to go to the mortal realm!" 

"The mortal realm, huh? I've heard things about it but...I've never actually been there. And of course you haven't either."

"Maybe not, but one day I'm going to go. I can feel it, I know I'm close. I just have to work harder. But I feel like I'm lagging behind. Only reason I'm not taking my exam yet is probably cause I can't handle shades still."

Vanitas sneered. "Oh definitely. You're a hopeless case, you know that? I pity the mortal who gets a guardian who perishes before they themselves do."

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever makes you feel better," Ventus grumbled. "But I mean it, I am going to get better. You'll see, and so will my master. I can handle myself!" 

"We'll see about that, Venty Wenty," he teased. 

_"No way this kid can do it. He's better off being a scribe or something. Does he only want the job to go to the mortal realm? Get real. That place is crawling with shades last time I heard. He'd be breakfast, lunch and dinner in 3 seconds flat."_

"We will see," Ventus said. His voice is a little tight. "And I'll do anything to get better."

"Oh?" Vanitas said. He got a little closer. "Anything?" 

"Y-Yeah. Which is why…" 

He sighed. He didn't know why the idea suddenly popped up in his head. Call it desperation, but he suddenly remembered something from the encounter with the shades that he and Vanitas faced. 

It was why he was unfortunately the proper person to ask. 

"When you were fighting those Shades, your technique, it wasn't anything I had seen before! You moved so fast at some points, it was crazy. My friends, one of them almost exclusively uses magic, the other one has lots of powerful hits. I...I'm not the best at magic, and uh.."

Vanitas snorted. "You have noodle arms!" 

"I don't got noodle arms!" He crossed his arms. "Anyways. What I am, is fast. Plus Aqua and Terra don't fight or do anything like I do. Even Terra uses magic too. But me? All I have is my speed to rely on. I got like two spells I really know well and even little doves can do those. If I want to get stronger...I want to find someone who fights like me, and you're the closest person I can ask so...do you want to train together?" 

Vanitas blinked rapidly. 

"I...you…" 

_"Train? With this runt?! All that's gonna do is set my progress back. He's got guts, I'll give him that...but no way could he handle my regiment."_

"I know, I know it's wacky but...I want to get stronger, and I'm willing to do anything. And I think your fighting style is similar to mine."

Vanitas scoffed. "You've only seen me fight once. And I've barely seen you even throw a punch. What makes you think I'd really say yes?" 

"Because if you do, um...I'll uh. I could help you with English."

It took all of the boy's self control to not laugh. 

"What makes you think I'd want to learn that?" 

"Well, you don't know. It could come in handy, number one. And number two, it lets you read this book and find out what happens to the girl."

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't just tell me, would you?" 

"W-Well...uh. Stories are better if you experience them yourself, read the words with your own eyes. Plus I don't think you'd want me reading them to you. You'd just say my voice is stupid or something." He crossed his arms. 

Vanitas chuckled. "Alright, you got that. That sounds like me. Your offer _is_ tempting…."

Ventus started to fill with hope. His eyes widened.

"But no. I'd be way too fast for you, bucko. You're better off copying off your fellow classmates." He turned to leave. 

He deflated. There had to be a why to convince him…!

"Wait!" Ventus called out. "Please...wait. Look, I know I've done nothing to impress you at all but I'm serious about this! I can't get better if it's always someone holding me back like at home. You're kind of an ass but…"

"But what? What about your other Moths, your other teachers? I'm really the only one? Man you are so weird, Ventus. Or are you just doing this to get closer to me?" 

Ventus scoffed. "Of course not! I'm doing this because I want to prove to my Master I can handle it, I can be a guardian and go to the mortal realm! And if I can handle _you,_ I can handle anything." 

Vanitas couldn't help but laugh. Now this was getting to be really hilarious. 

"Really? Well I'm flattered you think I'm hot shit. Well, mainly cause I am. But it's still no, Ventus. I'm not taking you under my wing. It took me a long time to get to where I am now. Maybe you can use that noggin of yours and come up with something else? Gee whiz..."

Ventus clenched his jaw. He had to convince Vanitas somehow. His combat skill was exactly what he needed. Now that he went and asked him, he was getting determined to see this through. If he could get as good as Vanitas, maybe just as half as he was, it _had_ to be enough. No way would the Master try and cancel his exams this time. 

But that could only work if he got Vanitas to say _yes_ somehow. And the story thing didn't work. 

What else could he do? He wasn't sure what else he could offer…

"Do you really think I can't handle it that much?"

"It's not just that, I don't want to. I don't really feel like it." He stretched his arms. "Your... tenacity or whatever is 'great' but no way."

"At least...spar with me," he muttered.

"Eh?" Vanitas asked. "Spar you? You think you're up for that?" 

"Of course I am!" He shot back. "And if I can beat you in a spar match, do you think you'd change your mind?" 

Vanitas burst into laughter. He leaned over, and let out a few wheezes. 

Ventus felt like an idiot, but he was running out of options. 

"You...beat...me…" he readjusted his mask. "Oh Light, I haven't laughed that hard in the history of forever. Oh man. Maybe I should hang around you after all!"

"I'm serious!" Ventus said. "Completely serious. Wasn't it you who said I'd have to work hard to get what I want?"

He groaned. "That doesn't mean _I_ have to be involved!" He let out a sigh. "You're just going to keep me dull. But…" he smiled. "If it's a fight you want, a fight you'll get. Is there a clearing were we can do it?" 

"I don't know, I think Scala is too crowded," Ventus said. "Oh! But I do know a good place. It isn't Scala though."

Vanitas snorted. "Alright, lead the way then." 

About a bunch of minutes later, Ventus touched down back onto the Land of Departure, but not the main floating island. They were on a field just a bit near to the castle, but far enough where they wouldn't be disturbed. 

Ventus of course had to help Vanitas a little bit when it came to flying over, but it was manageable. The two of them touched down on the grass with no other issue. 

The blond faced the masked boy, all the while psyching himself up. 

_"I got this,"_ he thought. _"If I can just find his weak spot, or keep my head up, I can beat him, I'm sure of it. It's not going to be easy but I got at least some kind of plan…_ "

Said plan was to subdue Vanitas as fast as he could and stay light on his feet. But Vanitas was fast. Really fast. 

Meanwhile, Ventus could see that Vanitas was nearby, circling the boy as if he were a shark closing in on his prey. Ventus gulped. He felt like he was on the chopping block. His heart beat as more adrenaline flowed into him. The two studied each other intensely, looked at their opponent up and down. 

"I'm ready…" Ventus said, and summoned his keyblade. "Go on, I know you're going to-" 

_THWACK!_ "AH!" he was hit suddenly from the side, Vanitas was a dark blur, moving ever so constantly.

"You're slow," the masked boy said. "Rule number one. Keep your enemies constantly guessing." 

Ventus was hit again, and almost lost his balance, were it not for his wings popping out and steadying him. 

He grit his teeth and lept out of the way, he could feel Vanitas on his back. He turned around and went straight for him, now that he was in front. 

"Nope." Vanitas easily dodged. He slid to the left and elbowed him right in the face, and then came down on him with his keyblade. 

"Ack!" Ventus was knocked to the ground. He flapped back up as quick as he could and rolled out of the way before Vanitas could pin him down. He could hear the annoyed puff of air that came from his opponent's mouth just now. Annoying Vanitas and catching him when he messed up seemed like the plan so far. He ran up to him again, and slashed at him quickly. He was sure he was making a dent, until-

"Gotcha!" He was knocked back, and barely had enough time to bring his body together and roll. 

He looked up at Vanitas with confusion. "H-How?! I swear I cut you!" 

There was nothing he could see behind that mask, except for his eyes narrowing, but Ventus was sure the other boy was smirking. The figure Ventus was slicing up vanished. 

Vanitas swung his keyblade around idly. "I got a few tricks up my sleeve, what can I s-" he was cut off when Ventus suddenly tackled him, the blond had practically launched himself into him like a precision missile.

Ventus then ripped his keyblade out of his hands, throwing it to the side. He held down Vanitas' arms and straddled him. 

"So...does this mean I win?" 

Vanitas' eyes narrowed. Then, he grabbed Ventus' wrists while his hands started to glow. 

"Ah!" His wrists burned and he pulled away. Then Vanitas lifted his hips and thrust his legs out. He kicked at Ventus and then with the help of his wings, stood back up. 

Ventus’ legs wobbled when he struggled to stand back up. He tightened the grip of his keyblade and glared at him. 

"What the hell was that?"

Vanitas rolled his eyes. "I told you I'd pummel you, didn't I?”

“No, I mean the thing you did with your hands, that really hurt…”  
  
“It’s called magic, doofus.” He walked over and picked his keyblade back up. “Also hey, points for disarming me, I guess. But it ends here.”   
  
Ventus shivered. He could feel that Vanitas was powering up….something. He wasn’t sure exactly, but he knew whatever it was, it smelled of darkness.

“So what will it be, Ventus? Are you going to give up? Or do I have to show you even more of what I’m made of?”

Ventus breathed in and out. He should be scared of the darkness, he really should be. Even now, he could hear Eraqus’ voice ring in his head.   
_“Ventus, my dear boy. You have to be very careful of the darkness. It has already drained you dry of your magic, don’t let it drain you of the rest of your essence as well. I regret to tell you that you are not like other angels. Others can withstand the dark. As for you, it would very much destroy you.”_ _  
_ He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He thought about Terra. What would Terra do? Terra would just grin and bear it. Terra would have enough strength to not yield. Could he do that too? It was all he got under this crunch of time. He had no time to be scared, no time to be cautious. He had to win this. He rooted his feet into the ground.

“Really? Not backing down?” Vanitas let out a laugh. “Alright then, here I come, Venty Wenty!” 

_“Just like Terra,”_ he thought, as he steadied himself. _“Don’t waver at all.”_

Vanitas launched himself at Ventus. His wings became as sharp as steel and he himself became the night. He wore his darkness like a cloak. Then Vanitas flew back as his wings went forward and shot feathers all around Ventus.   
The sound of knife-like feathers striking his keyblade filled up his ears as he constantly batted them away. They wouldn’t last long, he was sure of it. Attacks with feathers were expensive, and now he was 100% convinced that Vanitas was just trying to show off. But then he felt a sharp spike of pain flare up in his shoulder. He yelped loudly and looked to see that a feather was embedded in there. And then the rest of him was easily toppled over. He looked up to see a glowing pair of red eyes stare him down. Ventus was so close to Vanitas’ face, he could see his pupils dance with excitement. He could feel his heavy breath as he panted. The two of them were getting tired.

“Isn’t this position... a little familiar?” He let out a laugh. “Well? Anyways, give up now. It’s over. You’ve lasted this long but we both knew this was inevitable.”

“N-Never!” Ventus struggled under his weight but the chilling bite of all that darkness made his body grow immobile. He tried to wiggle his fingers, maybe move his legs, but he was disappointed to see that they would not respond.   
_“Come on…”_ He thought. _“I can’t lose like this! I can’t!”_ But he could feel his body shiver and shake when he felt more darkness swirl around him.

“Are you _that_ stupid? Just give up! Seriously, just stop...you’re just gonna...fuck. Look, you’ll never beat me, you’ll never move on from where you are now. Do you hear me? Now hurry up and yield before I lose control of this!” Vanitas’ voice was shaky.

“Gh!” His body grew more and more sluggish, and he lost even more feeling. All he could really feel was his chest and the heavy beating of his heart. He glared up at Vanitas, and though he was weighed down, his determination became his wings. “No...I can’t, I won’t. I will never give up, you hear me?! I don’t care what happens, I won’t let...let you or Master Eraqus or anyone tell me what I am!” He grit his teeth. He had to bear it, that’s all he could do right now. But he wasn’t going to give in. This wasn’t just about some duel anymore. He clenched his jaw, his teeth were sure to shatter, along with the rest of him. But he willed his body to move. He ordered himself to withstand the darkness.

“Look, I said stop, ok?!” Vanitas breathed in faster and faster. He took his hands off of Ventus and snapped his fingers. “Come on, come on...oh shit shit shit!”

Ventus suddenly gasped, and a flood of the dark rushed into him, burning his skin, and suffocated his thoughts. He felt like he was being thrown about in a tornado. For a second, he was sure he was gone. His mind fragmented, his sight blackened out, his will was lost. More and more darkness shut out his senses. He couldn’t move, think, breathe.   
But he could still hope. Even in the dark, he could still hope, he could still weakly call out for the rest of his self to return to him. 

Once more, he could feel his body, his heart pounded in his ears, and he could breathe once more. With every breath he took, his insides shook from the cold of the dark. But he kept focus on keeping himself solid.   
_“Breathe, Ven. Come on. In through your nose, and out. Find yourself, find your body. Ah, what would Terra do now? I don’t even think he or Aqua ever drowned in darkness, I can’t fight all of this off!”_

But if he couldn’t push the dark away, then what could he do?

_“Breathe. Keep breathing. I can’t panic, I can’t lose myself again. I can’t...I-”_

He gasped once more, and was hit by a wave of fresh air. The cold settled into his skin, and his thoughts were clear. No longer did the darkness try to drown him, instead it embraced his body and sank into it. He gulped in the night, and he was able to feel the grass under his feet. Not only that, but he felt good. He felt fine. The darkness did try to tear him apart, but he found himself once more. And now the darkness was in him, mixing with his own essence. He let out a hum, he was still in one piece. He opened his eyes, and let out a startled squeak. Vanitas was still face to face with him! He pushed him away and scrambled to sit up. 

“Ah! What the hell was-” Vanitas let out a string of swears. “You scared the shit out of me, I was sure y-you were a goner!” He slowly approached again. “How..what the hell did you do? I-I mean, uh, you good?”

Ventus blinked slowly. Other than being freezing cold, he was sure he was ok.   
“W-Well, it...I felt like I was being torn apart but I’m ok now.”

“That’s all you have to say? God you’re weird...Are you sure you’re ok? And look at your eyes, they’re...”

Ventus tilted his head. “They’re...what?” 

“Your sclera is like...dark. They’re not white at all. Your irises are glowing. You...absorbed all of that darkness and that’s why your eyes are so black.” 

“I...All of it?” He looked at his hands. They were much paler than before. He still shivered, his fingers still were tingly, and it felt like a storm was brewing in his stomach. He blinked. His eyes felt fine, in fact his vision was slightly clearer.Though he was altogether again, he was still surprised a little to see himself like this. Was the Master wrong? Was he ok enough to withstand the darkness or was it just a lucky break? He wasn’t sure at all, and he wasn’t looking forward to finding out anytime soon. But he had a feeling that he could endure more than what he thought, how else was he able to endure the void and pull Vanitas out successfully? 

“I’m fine,” he mumbled. “But um, does this mean I win?” 

“Oh for- _that’s_ what you care about?! Not the fact that you could have been erased, or that you just ate up all that Darkness?! I-” Vanitas groaned. “You are either the biggest moron in the sky or….nope! You’re just a moron.”

“W-Well, sorry!” Ventus shot back. “I- It’s...It’s confusing for me too, ok? I was just trying my best to survive, and if I couldn’t break through that darkness, then I guess my only other option was to take it in me. I didn’t even know I could do that up until now.”

“Actually, I...didn’t know you could do that either. I mean, I kind of can but..” He sighed. “I lose control if I pour too much into it, and I....”

“Does that mean you went too far when we were sparring?” Ventus said sternly. 

“O-Only cause you were right on me the entire time! What else could I do?” He argued. 

Now it was Ventus’ turn to be smug. “So I wasn’t as weak as you said I was?” 

Vanitas grumbled. “Shut up. This doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yes it does,” he pointed out. “It means that you felt threatened by me, and that you were messing around with your powers. A power that I was able to….to..” He grimaced and hugged himself. He went back to shivering and barely feeling his limbs. 

“To absorb, yeah I get it. I still don’t know how you...uh. You ok? Hello? Scala to Venty Wenty?” His voice got a little higher and a bit shaky, like before when he was straddling Ventus and using his darkness. 

“I’m...I…” Ventus moaned and stumbled. His wings flapped aimlessly to try and balance himself. But that barely helped as he felt like he was going to topple over. His chest burned and his ribs closed in on him. The world around him warped and twisted, which made his stomach feel even worse. And then his vision went dark. If not for Vanitas suddenly catching him, he would have surely faceplanted into the dirt. 

Vanitas held him and got him to sit, though Ventus’ legs were wobbly. “Light’s sake, what the fuck is this guy?” Vanitas shook his head and laid him down. The masked angel wasn’t particularly angry this time, he was much more focused on the fact that Ventus was able to eat up all that darkness like it was nothing. Part of him hoped that he didn’t erase the boy outright, but he seemed still solid, but very cold to the touch. If not for Vanitas’ experience with dark magic, touching Ventus would be like touching Pluto’s surface.

His brows furrowed. _“That idiot…”_ He thought. _“No way is this my fault, he’s the one who wanted to keep pushing me! If he just yielded like he should have, I..he’d be ok!”_ He shook his head when a few opposing thoughts bubbled up inside him. What if he was also to blame as well? He might have gone too far after all. But he batted those thoughts away. This was all Ventus’ fault, and Vanitas was better off leaving him in the dirt and going back to the realm that Never Was. Back to what he knew, no more mysteries or frustrating run ins with this person. That also meant the two of them would probably train together after all. 

But as much as he wanted to turn away, he was still bothered by the lingering questions in his mind. First was when Ventus managed to pull him out of the dark.Then there was the sudden retrieval of old memories. And finally, the fact that Ventus could absorb darkness. There were too many instances that prevented him from simply flying away and ignoring anything further. He glanced down and sighed. “Alright, let’s get you somewhere comfy…” 

Ventus softly moaned as some sort of response. Other than that, Vanitas could see that he was still pretty unconscious.

He looked around. He spotted a bunch of towers behind a couple of clouds. The building nearby seemed to be a castle, so he guessed that it was the best place to go.  
He sighed and did his best to scoop up Ventus. Thankfully, the boy was pretty light as always. He fanned his wings out. He wasn’t sure if he had too much energy to make it, but it was near enough so he could glide. Without anything further, He walked towards the edge of the floating island and stepped off. The wind caught his wings and he glided down. Once again more questions were racing in his mind. Questions that he knew weren’t going to be immediately answered. As he got closer he spotted the front doors.   
_“I could go that way but uh...I don't know who the fuck is gonna open the door. And I'd rather not talk to more people than I have to."_

He glided down and went to the closest window he could get to on one of the towers. Thankfully it had a giant open window, and a bed that he could easily see. He slipped through, and laid Ventus on the bed. 

He sighed. 

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you…" he said. He touched Ventus' hand. It was still cold. 

"Look, I'm not gonna mother hen you or whatever. Whatever happens next, I hope you're ok. So I gotta go now…"

He suddenly heard an onslaught of footsteps by the door. Before he could move, the door fully opened. 

A tall blue haired woman stepped into the doorframe. 

"Ven? I sensed-" 

The two of them locked eyes. She gasped and stepped forward. 

"Who are you?! What did you do to Ven?!"

Vanitas wrinkled his nose. _"She's so annoying…"_ he thought. _"She sounds so whiny. Eugh. How does blondie stand her?"_

He cleared his throat and answered what he'd been trained to say. Or at least, what he was supposed to be saying. Ventus guessing his name earlier tripped him out a bit.

"I am no one. Nothing but a tool for the hand of Darkness. Blondie over here is who you really gotta worry about."

He leaped out the window and plunged all the way down. He was sure to hit the realm that Never Was soon. 

He sighed, as he once again sank all the way down. Whether he liked it or not, lots of things were about to be changing. He could very much feel it. 


	8. A Shadow of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aqua, Eraqus and Terra rush to deliver Ventus from the darkness that's poisoning his body. They summon a Star Seer to assist and Eraqus finds himself recounting Ventus' peculiar relationship with the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! This took a lot out of me but I finally finished this chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it a lot ;3;   
> Also, those with emetophobia may want to heed warning for this chapter a little during the flashback part.

"He's here!" Aqua called from the hall. 

"Terra, I found him." It had been several hours since Ventus vanished. She, Terra and Eraqus all wound themselves into a panic, searching wherever they could for him. It was only when they all met back did Aqua find the boy, unconscious in his bed. Immediately Aqua was at Ventus' side. She shivered as she held him gently.

"He's so cold...and he's soaked with Darkness. What the heck even-"

She thought of the mysterious angel who was there just now. Who was he? And how did Ventus get exposed to this much darkness? It made no sense. 

But she'd think more on that later. Ventus needed help. 

"Terra?" She called again. When there was no answer, she let out a frustrated huffm "Terra where are you?! Get the Master. I think he's-" 

"We're here, Aqua," Master Eraqus said. He stood in the doorway of Ventus' room. 

"I got him. Here. I already sent a dove to the Star Seers." He entered the room and wrapped his arms around Ventus and held the unconscious boy close to him. Ven's arms and legs dangled from his strong grasp. 

Aqua let go and hugged herself. 

"Master…. What's wrong with Ven? It's one thing that he's soaked with Darkness, it's another thing that he's cold and won't wake up!"

"A lot," he said gravely. He looked down at the boy and grimaced. "I'm not sure how, but Ventus has the ability to absorb Darkness itself. Years ago, I found him just like this, as oversaturated with Darkness as it could be. But it made no sense. Angels like him, angels of light with no proper training can't handle the dark, much less  _ absorb _ it. That is why I sent for a Star Seer. I'm certain they can handle this. Not only that but... I'm hoping they can divulge a little more about all of this. This has got to be something much more than just drawing out all this darkness."

He slowly walked out of the room, and Aqua followed him close, as well as Terra, who had been silently watching from the hall. 

As they walked, the sounds of their footsteps onto the floor was barely enough to fill the growing silence, alongside it's sibling, tension. 

Terra and Aqua exchanged glances as they followed their master. Perhaps someone ought to say something? But what? 

Finally Terra decided to break the silence. He cleared his throat and then said: 

"He's...going to be ok, right?" His voice was steady, up until he said the very last word. His voice cracked slightly at the last syllable. 

"He should be...he  _ will  _ be," Eraqus said firmly. He walked towards a ledge and unfurled his wings. He flew up until he reached the uppermost top of the castle, and landed on the highest ledge. His ears perked when he heard his students fly up and follow close behind. He then turned and walked into a wide room that had marble floors,the walls decorated intricately with stained glass of all kinds of color. There wasn't any furniture in this room other than a few glowing balls of light that circled around. Most of the light was coming from an empty pool in the center. Eraqus took Ven's shoes off, then his outer clothing until he was just in his black crop top and short black shorts and then set the boy in the pool. He summoned his keyblade and didn't hesitate to grab the hilt as tightly as he could. It was all he could do to keep his hands from shaking. With a shout from his lips, water gushed out from his blade, and the pool rapidly filled up. Then he gripped it tighter and relayed a different spell.

A short beam of light danced on the water's surface, bouncing about like a skipped stone, before sinking and spreading about in the water, turning it from clear to a milky whitish. It started bubbling and giving off steam.

Ventus made no noise, other than a few moans of pain throughout the entire trip into the room. 

When the warm water licked at his skin and soaked up his clothes, he shivered and his breathing quickened.

Eraqus let out a giant sigh of relief. His wings stretched out and finally relaxed, though he couldn't help but grimace when he found them to be quite sore. He frowned deeply and stroked his student's forehead.

"Ventus…" he said softly. "Don't worry. You shall be safe now."

Then it was Aqua's turn to speak. 

"What….was all that?" She asked. "What is that going to do?" 

"It should start drawing out the darkness," Eraqus explained. "And if not…."

He hesitated to finish the sentence. He wouldn't. He couldn't. Suppose he says it and he speaks it into existence? Though he had to explain to his other students what exactly Ventus was going through, and to soothe their growing anxiety, but even he himself did not want to say it. 

But it was apparent. He could not deny it. His body could continue to take damage, and then... he may go into stasis."

"Stasis?" Terra's voice shook. "If his body crystallizes, it'll take eons for him to wake back up!" 

"No…." Aqua said. The color drained from her face. Her chest felt tight.

"No, h-he can't. What if even stasis isn't enough? He'll... he'll-"

"He won't shatter. I will do everything in my power to see that he will be alright."

"Isn't there anything Aqua and I can do?" Terra asked with a strained voice. 

"I need one of you to get to the front of the castle, so the Star Seer knows where to go. And for the other, just stay with Ventus, keep him calm, let him know that you're there." 

"I can go wait for them," Terra declared. He was off without much more of a word to say. 

Aqua kneeled by the side of the pool. She reached in the water and went to hold Ventus' hand. When their fingers connected, Aqua almost drew away. 

_ His hand is freezing… _ she thought. She could barely hold on. Though she had training with the darkness as a guardian angel, Ven's hand was like a world of ice. 

"Ven…" she said softly. She frowned when there was barely a response. She's seen a few of her fellow angels affected by darkness badly. Thankfully there were no physical wounds on his body as far as she could see. But then that could mean that he would have some internal wounds as well as bleeding. She and Eraqus looked over his skin. His usually sunkissed skin was dull and lifeless. If ashes and dust were king and queen, then he would be their prince. Aqua turned his hand over and his veins were slowly turning black. The darkness had already seeped into his blood. She let out a hiss. Any human would have already been killed a dozen times over. She could only hope and pray in her heart that Ventus doesn't suddenly start cracking. If he were to shatter…

Pain flared up in her chest at the mere idea of it. She couldn't even think of it.

"Ven, I'm here. I'm here, ok? You're going to be alright.." she leaned over to kiss his forehead. "Please…"

"The water is still clear…" Eraqus said, and pursed his lips. "It would have at least drawn something ou-" 

And almost on cue, Ventus let out a cry. His face contorted and he arched his back, which pushed his hips forward. 

"Ven!" Aqua exclaimed. She held his hand tighter. 

"Please, hold on...hold on!" If her chest wasn't hurting before, it was now. It was crying out alongside him. 

She was so focused on him, that she barely noticed that Eraqus was softly touching her arm. 

"It's alright, Aqua."

She jolted when she heard his voice. 

"M-Master?"

He pointed to the water. 

"Do you see how it is slowly turning dark?" 

She looked where he was pointing and just like he said, the water was turning darker and darker. It was about a grayish, and with every minute movement of his, the water turned a bit darker. Flumes of the dark dropped into the water, and then swirled around, mixing in. 

"Your right," she said in awe. "What does that mean, then? Is he going to be ok?"

"If we're able to get it all out, yes, he should be." Eraqus replied. He then sighed and shook his head. "Once he wakes, hopefully we can get to the bottom of all this. The next time he leaves, it will have to be with supervision."

"Well, I did see an angel stand over him. When I asked about who he was, he answered that he was nothing but a servant of the Darkness. Do you think…"

Eraqus raised his eyebrows. "Why would anyone of the 13 want anything to do with him? It makes no sense...unless… It does remind me of when I first brought him in." 

Aqua tilted her head. "It does?" 

"It does indeed." Eraqus answered. 

"Hello?" A voice called from nearby. An angel about the appearance of a young girl flew up and landed on the floor. Her blue sandals barely hovered over the tile. Her wings fluttered rapidly. Instead of being birdlike, her wings were blessed by a butterfly. Little slits of colored light danced from her crystal-like wings. She looked up at Eraqus and Aqua, smoothed out her silky skirt and gave a polite bow as a greeting. 

"I was told that you were up here. I got your message, where's the dark soaked angel?" 

"He's here, I'm drawing out his darkness with charged water. Ah... Namine, right?" Eraqus asked. 

"I assume you were sending for one of my senior sisters. They're very busy right now so only I could answer. I um…" She let her fingers run through her hair. "I hope that's alright."

"It's more than alright, Sister. Please, if there's anything you can do to help Ventus, lemonade."

Namine nodded and went up to the pool. She looked over Ventus' unconscious body, and other than slightly wincing when Ventus groaned once more, her face remained smooth and passive. She had a satchel slung over her shoulder, most likely filled with all sorts of herbs and instruments.

Terra flew up while Aqua and Eraqus watched Namine's examination. He stood right where his master and fellow student was, giving Namine enough space to do whatever she needed. 

He watched her closely. He had never interacted with Star Seers. Usually they'd keep themselves up in a tower near the center of Scala ad Caelum

He took the time to note her, and noticed how elegantly she carried herself. Even the smallest things she did, the movement of her arms, the flutter of her wings, she always moved with significant meaning. 

He'd have to think more on that later. There was something more important that he had to ask about.

"How...how is he?" He asked. 

Namine placed a hand on Ven's forehead. She frowned slightly, but when she opened her mouth to speak, Ventus suddenly jerked under her hand. She was definitely startled by him. "Ventus?" She asked cautiously. 

Ventus let out another pain-filled groan, and his lips moved, but nothing intelligible could be heard. The water turned as black as ink while his skin regained its color. 

"Well," she said. "The darkness is being drawn away from his heart. And his body isn't going into stasis. But…he's still deep in sleep. I'm not sure how long it will take to wake him up. And…" She tilted her head. "Is he...asleep? Like a human?" 

"He is?" Aqua asked. She stepped forward. She saw how Ventus curled up in the water, and how his eyes darted back and forth under his skin. Just like how a human would sleep.

_ Has he always done that? Could he be that he's severely exhausted? That could be why… _ she thought. 

When Namine placed her hand on him again, her eyes widened. 

"No, he's not just sleeping like a human. He's dreaming like one too." 

"Wait, what?" Terra exclaimed. "But how? Angels don't dream." 

"And yet…." Namine's blue eyes turned white. "I can see what he's dreaming about. Wait no...is it a dream? Dreams are random, dreams are a journey to the Realm of Sleep. The unconscious of all humans. If this isn't a dream, is it a vision?" 

Eraqus stepped forward. "Sister?"

Namine didn't say much else. She saw into his mind, saw that the sky was awash with stars and galaxies. It wasn't empty and cold like it had been for cycles. She was aware of when the sky used to carry the stars, at least before Starfall. But she had to be taught that, she had to see them through visions. And if Ventus seems to be the same amount of years old, then there was no way he'd ever know what the stars were. Yet there he was, having a vision about it, as if he were a Star Seer. 

She withdrew her hand and turned around to face the others. She looked into each of their worried and confused eyes, and noticed how lemonade.

She wanted to explain to them exactly what was going on, but even she didn't have much of an idea. The only answer she could come with was that somehow, even though all 7 have been accounted for, that Ventus was somehow potentially a Star Seer. 

But she wasn't sure if that was truly an adequate conclusion. 

"Well, I've yet to deal with something like this," Namine confessed. "I know I'm inexperienced compared to my sisters but even they would consider this to be quite a particular case…"

"We understand, Sister. We do, but even if it's a slight hunch, we wish to hear it," Eraqus said gently. 

"Well, Ventus may be a Star Seer, I believe," Namine said slowly. She tugged at a few strands of her hair. "But I'm not so sure about that. It's one of my theories. I saw in his mind a vision of the stars. Stars haven't been seen since Starfall. And I don't believe Ventus was around to see that."

"He wasn't," Eraqus said. "None of us were."

"I've only seen it in books myself," Aqua said. "About Starfall. It happened so long ago, didn't it?" 

"It did," Namine said.

"But then, why would he even have some kind of vision about it?" Terra asked. 

"Master Eraqus?" Aqua turned to him.

"Before Sister Namine came, wasn't there something else you were going to say about Ven? About when you brought him in?" 

"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow. "Oh! I see. Right. You see, Ventus isn't like my other students. I didn't take him under my wing the same way I did with Terra and Aqua. I found him."

"Right, you came in one day with an angel so new, he didn't even have his wings. He had to be like….not even a cycle old," Terra remarked. 

"You found him?" Namine repeated. "What do you mean?" 

"Well…" he crossed his arms. 

\------------------------

It was early morning one fateful day. 

The halls of the Castle of Departure were empty. It's been six years since Eraqus took Aqua under his wing. He's already been with Terra for ten. About a quarter of an angelic cycle and half of an angelic cycle accordingly. He had gotten very used to the routine that he had followed with his students as well as the rest of the students that busily went about the halls. But one day, on the day that he least expected it, everything would change. 

"I see that soon they'll send for you," his longtime friend and companion Xehanort said to him that day. "They'll have you comb through that sealed off place to find two diamonds in the rough, two angels that will change everything."

Eraqus didn't understand what he meant at all, until he heard the summons.

True to Xehanort's word, there was indeed a call for higher leveled angels to get to Luce Prima, a sealed off place beyond the farthest reaches of the angelic realm. There was someone there they needed to retrieve. Avocets (masters that oversee the guardian angels), and Seriema (elite soldiers who fight threats even larger than Shades)

But how did Xehanort know about this? Usually the first to know about missions such as these were the Star Seers and the 

Eraqus, being the diligent angel of course answered the call. He bid his students farewell and took to the sky. 

He wasn't sure what to expect when getting there. He'd never been to such a place before. He only knew that it contained left over memories of a time long ago, a time when stars were in the sky. 

As his wings scraped the sky, he saw how even the others who also answered the call had not much of an idea as to why they were there. Directed by a vision of a Star Seer, they went closer and closer to crossing the threshold into a long forgotten place. 

When the angels reached the start of the plane, they were surrounded by what remained of a town. Tattered and ripped up buildings were all over the place, fountains that once sprung water were now empty and covered in vines, and the air was strangely quiet and thin. A mysterious blanket of fog shrouded the entire place and partially blocked out the sun. A feeling of unease set in for every angel who walked on the cracked cobblestone path. 

What would they find here? It wasn't entirely known. They would just have to keep walking. 

But as they did, they had to also remain on guard. There could be all kinds of creatures roaming around, not just Shades. Creatures that feast upon the heart could also be around. 

There was a rustling nearby. Without any other warning, creatures cloaked in black rose up from the shadows. Everyone summoned their weapons, slashing at the monsters left and right. But they soon found that the more they attacked, the more that flooded in. Some Seriema stood back to make sure the rest of the group would not be deterred by the creatures.

As they kept walking, they found themselves staying close together. The buildings they passed got more and more desolate. The purple roofed houses faded away, replaced by decrepit chunks of random buildings. It looked even worse off than the Realm that Never Was, another place left abandoned in time. Eraqus flexed his hands. It was like pins and needles were dancing on his fingertips. He was sure he had plenty of energy while making the flight to Luceprima. Why was he starting to show signs of being lux-starved? 

It seemed like the very place itself was draining the life of those who dared step into its halls. 

How much longer would they have to go until they find who they were seeking? 

Their inner lights were dim. There were no more landmarks, no more stone roads, and they had strayed far away from the light that could replenish them. Eraqus blinked slowly, trying to keep himself conscious. 

Were they here? They had to be…

Suddenly, a sound echoed off in the distance. At first, Eraqus was sure that it was a voice. Was it a person out there? 

His ears flicked as he heard it once more. His fellow wing-siblings heard it as well. They were close. 

And close they were. They crossed to an empty field, and Eraqus could not believe what he was seeing. 

Keyblades. 

Hundreds of them, thousands of them, all stuck into the dusty, lifeless ground. All rusted, all without a hand to wield them. He looked around in absolute disbelief. How was it that he had never heard of a place such as this? A place filled with weapons of perished angels? 

He took a few more steps and he felt a crunch under his heel. He looked down to see shiny shards that covered parts of the ground. 

Shards of angels that once were.

"What...is this place?" An Avocet asked. 

The land was empty, for no one had an answer. 

They heard the sound once more. It sounded like a cry. They headed towards where they were certain the sound was coming from. When they got through the sea of keyblades, they saw quite the sight in front of them. 

Two young boys. There was no mistaking them as human. Eraqus believed that a human would have most certainly perished by now in these conditions. No, it had to be two moths. 

One of them straddled the other, a boy with dark hair and pale skin, who barely wore anything except for an ill fitting black tunic and pants. Eraqus noted that they both reeked of Darkness.The other boy, who had golden hair and even paler skin, had even less, he lacked a shirt. Both had dust and dirt smeared all over themselves. 

"You'll be ok Ventus," the dark haired boy mumbled. "We'll be together again... we'll never be apart."

A Seriema stepped forward to the two of them. 

"We're here to collect you," she announced. 

The dark haired boy hissed at the strangers and held the blond boy close, who was barely lucid. His body jittered as his anger bubbled to the top.

"Leave us alone!" He shouted. He let out a growl and flashed his teeth. 

"He's mine….mine, you hear me! I won't let anyone else hurt him!" Though he shook with anger, his wild and unkempt hair clung to his face, as if it were a nest of thorns and brambles. 

"We want the two of you safe," she said softly. While she was talking, she was signaling with her hands to have the others surround the boys. They couldn't stay here much longer. 

The dark haired one snarled. 

"Don't move one more s- AAAHHH!" He howled as another Seriema grabbed him and pinned his emaciated arms back. He kicked at them as best as he could, but there wasn't much he could do to fight against trained warriors. All his thrashing did was have his arms held even tighter. He craned his neck as far as it would go, ignoring the cracking and popping, and bit down hard upon one of the arms belonging to the one who held him back. 

The Seriema let out a loud swear from her diaphragm and tried to pull away her arm while also still holding on to the boy. "Light's teeth- Get a sleep spell on him, please!" 

Eraqus took no time to summon his keyblade and cast sleep on the one he deemed feral. The magic flowed from his blade and to the boy. 

"NO! NO You...can't take him...from…" And the boy slipped from the waking world entirely, deep in sleep like a human.

Eraqus sighed and called his blade away. 

"Lightning, are you alright?" He addressed the angel that was holding him.

"I'm fine, I've dealt with buzzards like him before. Should have known he would be a fucking biter." Blood trickled down heavily from her arm. "I can get a Sylph to look at it later. Let's just head back quickly. This place is sacrilegious. No wonder it was sealed off."

"But then how did they end up here?" Eraqus asked. "And how did….how did Xehanort know that they were here? The Star Seers knowing, I understood. But him?" He furrowed his brows. 

He and the other angels walked over and knelt down to check on the blond boy. 

Though the other one may have been better built for darkness, this one could barely hang on. The deathlike pallor of his skin had almost convinced Eraqus that he was truly gone. His fingertips looked like they were dipped in ink, It did not help that parts of his skin were covered in small parts of crystal. He looked around to see bigger chunks not too far away. Were they in stasis just now? And if so, how long has it been and what caused them to wake up? 

Eraqus removed his white cloak and wrapped it around the boy. He held him close and let his head rest on his chest. He frowned deeply. 

"Poor thing," he muttered. "Hang on as much as you can. Surely there is still a light inside you?" 

"Eraqus, he's secure with you?" An Avocet asked. 

Eraqus nodded. 

"Alright. Back to Scala, we go."

As the party trekked back to Scala ad Caelum, Eraqus periodically checked on the boy he cradled in his arms. Hundreds of questions flooded his mind. Who were those boys, how did they get there? Were they dropped there all of a sudden or...were they the last living parts of an event long long ago? 

Were they truly angelic, or were they something else? Why did the dark haired one react the way he did? 

And most importantly…

What did Xehanort know about them? 

But when they returned, it looked like most of the questions Eraqus had would not be answered. 

Upon waking once more, watched by Sylphs and two Star Seers, the blonde boy's eyes were dull. He barely moved, barely spoke. When asked who he was, he could only provide his name. Ventus. The rest of his memory was blank. And asking him to recall more only led to more pain that he had to bear. As for the other boy, getting anything out of him was like pulling entire wings. He hissed and spat at whoever got close, and called for the other boy as much as he could. But after one visit from Xehanort, he was as silent as the place they found him in. 

Getting Ventus to make a recovery would prove to be quite the challenge. Siphoning darkness away from an angel was an arduous process. Getting it out too quickly would cause the heart to shatter. Getting it out too slowly will cause the body to go into shock and crystallize as a last resort. With both a cracked heart and a body freshly out of stasis, Ventus was in danger of shattering, be it his heart or his body. And if either were to completely shatter…

Eraqus and the other Sylphs hadn't spent this long crafting potions in a long time. He had to brew something that would neutralize the remaining crystal on his skin, something to help purge the darkness effectively, and something to strengthen his heart and body. All of these required multiple doses. 

By the time he was done, the spacious room that the healers used for potion making was almost completely full with all kinds of sealed bottles. They had used up almost all the bottles inside their space. 

Giving Ventus each and every potion wasn't easy. His body would shake and violently reject the ones that tried to relinquish the darkness. Eraqus knew that darkness removal wasn't easy, but he started to suspect that his body wanted to cling to the darkness, or vice versa. Ventus also had trouble keeping anything down. Occasionally he'd cough up the medicine, requiring an adjusted dose. But he was in fact making a recovery, albeit slowly.

Eraqus was sure his part of the job was done, that there was nothing more he could do. 

But...he would soon prove to be wrong, as an old friend approached him once more. 

Scala was quiet that day. The two of them were standing on the balcony of a dove carrier room. 

"Xehanort…" Eraqus said softly. "How did you know about them? You knew exactly where they were. I still do not understand…"

"It was a mere hunch of mine, friend." Xehanort explained. He folded his hands back. "I've been researching about that land you and others crossed over to just now. Certainly something of great importance happened, something possibly great enough that it stole all the stars from the sky. The universe is empty, just like that. But why?" 

Eraqus didn't understand. "It isn't known...but you think those boys would know? They're moths."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Eraqus. You know that. Besides, even if it's true, they won't be moths for long. They need good teachers to train them up. And I think you would be the perfect choice for Ventus."

"What?" Eraqus raised his eyebrows. "I'm flattered you think so highly of me, Xehanort, but you don't understand. I don't think I could possibly take a student so young as him. He doesn't even have his wings yet. I have enough students on my hands."

Xehanort let out a chuckle and pat his friend's shoulder.

"Eraqus, Eraqus, Eraqus... Underselling yourself? Is this the same Eraqus I've trained alongside?"

"This isn't an underselling at all," he argued. 

"It's you who has to do this," Xehanort said. "Your path towards the light is what that boy needs. I can handle the other one. His darkness is just what the 13 needs. Well, I suppose we're less than 13, aren't we." He chuckled. 

"I wish you good luck on  _ that _ endeavour," Eraqus said, and shuddered.  _ Better to never even trifle with the darkness above all else, _ he thought.  _ I don't know what I would do if I had a student like that moth. He's more trouble than he's worth. Both of them might be, as a matter of fact. _

"Say all you want about darkness, friend. But we have the 13 in place for a reason. Anyways, besides your skill as a teacher," Xehanort continued. "Your skill with medicine may also be needed. The boy, Ventus. He's... there's something wrong with his light, and his heart. It's…" he shook his head and turned away from Eraqus. 

"It's what? Is it that bad? Has the darkness wounded it that much?"

Xehanort turned back around. "I'm afraid so. Though eventually he should be fine with enough training, right now he's lucky to be alive. That's why he must be entrusted with you. You are without a doubt the one angel I know who prides himself as being as free from darkness as possible. And your skill with medicine can help keep the darkness at bay and heal his heart." 

Eraqus thought about it.  _ This definitely changes things. I don't know, I still have a bad feeling about this. But if he must be far from darkness, then I suppose I would have no trouble teaching him. But if Xehanort insists… _

He took in a breath. This would not be easy. But then again, nothing about his journey so far was ever easy. 

"Alright. I'll take him in," he said slowly. 

The smile on Xehanort's face was extra wide. 

"Perfect." 

The next following days passed by in a blur. Eraqus had no trouble getting approved for another student. Adding in Xehanort's recommendation made it even easier. So, Eraqus came home with the young boy. He had to carry him since he still lacked wings. But it could be any day now until they would soon sprout. The boy had already complained about his back being sore. 

"Now I understand if things seem confusing or overwhelming for you at the start," Eraqus explained as he opened the doors to the castle. "But you'll get used to it very soon." 

There was hardly a response from...from Ventus. Eraqus had to remind himself of his name. 

The doors opened and the two of them were greeted by not just Aqua and Terra, but the rest of the students living in the castle as well. They knew all about the new student that would be joining them. Like a group of curious cats, they slowly stride forward to check him out. 

"Hello! I'm Aqua!" Eraqus' second student said. She smiled and bent down to match his height. "It's nice to meet you. What's your name?"

"You don't have your wings yet?" Terra raised his eyebrows. "Name's Terra. It's nice to finally meet the Master's newest student."

Ventus' eyes darted back and forth as he saw the two of them talk. 

His arms stuck to his side, he drew back towards Eraqus. He didn't like the two of them that much. It felt like their voices went down the drain of his ears and turned his stomach into sewage. He alternated between clinging to Eraqus' sleeve and hugging his abdomen. 

Eraqus raised an eyebrow and very gently tried pulling away. Surely they wouldn't already start having problems?

"Are you alright?" Aqua asked. "Is something wrong?" 

Aqua, bless her heart, was definitely trying her best to get him to talk. 

"I can show you a little bit around, if that's what you'd like. I haven't finished decorating your room, but I can show you the progress I made so far! Terra and I are very excited to see you. And well, so is everyone else here. We haven't had such a new moth here before, so we kind of all decided to come down here and say hi."

"How old are you?" One student asked. 

Ventus jolted at the sound of yet another voice. Everyone back at the infirmary were much quieter…

Another one piped up. "Are you going to be a guardian like Master Eraqus' other students?" 

"I don't see why he wouldn't," someone else pointed out. "But he's lucky. He gets to train right next to Aqua…" 

"What's a moth so young doing here anyways? Don't we only get newborns at the start of each cycle? This cycle won't end for another 10 years…"

More and more voices piled up in his head. His hands shook, his breathing quickened, and the feeling in his stomach was becoming absolutely unbearable. A knot had formed in his belly and every noise he heard made it tighter, and tighter, and tighter. He couldn't hold on anymore, he couldn't bear it. Every muscle inside him tensed up and he couldn't take anymore of this. He gagged and fell to his knees. 

"Huh? Hey, kid…" Terra said cautiously. "What-" 

He didn't have any chance to finish his sentence, as Ventus loudly wretched and darkness spewed out of his mouth. 

This was enough to have everyone back up by 10 thousand feet. The hall went deadly quiet as they all stared at the mouth in horror. 

Aqua stood as still as a statue. She couldn't tear her eyes away, even if she willed herself to. 

"What on-" Even Eraqus couldn't have expected that to happen. Ventus coughed, and just when Eraqus was sure he was done, another bout of darkness came up and out. Eraqus knelt to his side and rubbed his back.

"It's alright…" he mumbled. He spoke up so the rest could hear as well. "It's alright! He's clearing out the darkness inside him. He's going to be fine. But you all need to be careful. None of you are adequately trained with the darkness just yet. This is what may happen if you are particularly sensitive to it and you are not of the 13, angels specifically crafted to master darkness. 

The master fished for anything he had in his pockets. He was sure he still had a bottle on him…

His fingers curled around a bottle and he quickly uncorked it. He held it up to the boy's lips. 

Ventus hesitated to drink, to once again taste something extremely bitter. 

"Come on," Eraqus said gently. "You'll feel better, I promise."

He looked up at the older angel, and then reluctantly drank it. He shuddered from the taste, and nearly gagged once more, but he took a breath and swallowed it. The storm in his stomach stopped, and he let out a sigh. 

"Better?" Eraqus asked. 

Ventus nodded. 

From that day on, and the days that followed, Ventus did his best to become stronger. But the darkness, the persistent shadow still followed by. Ventus needed more rest than others, and needed to sleep like a human, for several hours. Ever so occasionally he'd get violently sick once more and make everyone worry again. He had quite an uphill battle to make until he would be purged of the darkness entirely. 

\----------------------

"And well, that's all that happened. I have to give him a daily dose of medicine each day to combat any darkness from tainting his heart, " Eraqus explained. "And though he has shown a lot of progress... darkness can still destroy all of it." 

Eraqus looked at the three of them as he finished up his account. He had a tendency to stare off into space when he talked for long amounts of time. When he did look at them, he noted how they all reacted. 

Aqua and Terra had heard parts of the story before, but not in its entirety. They knew about what was left in Luceprima, about the abandoned realm of keyblades rusted over. The two students' initial reaction was that of horror, of a wish to lay those who had fallen to rest properly, to prevent whatever tragedy had befallen their wing-siblings. But as time went by, they eventually fell in line with the other angels, barely paying it any mind, leaving that haunting memory in the history books. 

After they heard the story, Aqua's brows lowered and she drew her arms close to her chest. Terra tried his best to fake a stoic expression, but his rigid posture and clenched jaw gave him away. And Namine? Her face was unreadable, her eyes unblinking. She had been staring at Eraqus the entire time he spoke, not moving a singluar muscle, or uttering a singular word. It slightly unnerved him, but it did not surprise him. She was a Star Seer after all, emulating the rigidity of Saturn.

A moment of silence passed through the room, with the only sounds being Ventus' labored breathing, until Namine broke it.

"I see," she said. Her earlier visage had melted away. Now her eyes were wide, her eyebrows almost reached her hairline. "I never knew the forbidden realms contained any of that, let alone an entire graveyard of keys...and what were the odds for two moths to be found in Luceprima, with all that darkness surrounding the two of them…"

"Our best Keepers have theorized that 

"Wait wait wait." Terra cut in. "I've known bits and pieces of this story for a while, but did Ven not know why he was in Luceprima either?" 

"You're right, he did not," Eraqus replied. "He didn't know much of anything that happened that day. He couldn't even remember. To him, his first memory was the day he walked through those doors for the first time."

"Oh, I always assumed that he didn't want to talk about it," Aqua said. She rubbed her arm. "So I never asked." 

"What about Master Xehanort, then?" Terra asked. "I know you haven't heard from him since you took Ven in but, was there more he knew about them?"

"Strangely enough, no." Eraqus said. He furrowed his brows. "He's a busy angel. We all are. The opportunities I've had to talk to him were brief and sparse. If I could, I'd ask him more about them…" 

"That angel I saw standing over him. Do you think it's the same one that was found with Ven? It has to be…"

"It could be." He turned to check on Ven. 

"How is he now…?"

Namine was holding his hand. 

"I believe all of the darkness is out, or at least most of it. And if the latter instead of the former, I can help with that. I came prepared." 

Ventus shifted around in the water. He groaned softly and his eyes fluttered open for a second, before shutting once more. 

Eraqus lifted him out of the pool and held him close. The color in Ventus' skin had returned, and he looked more at peace than earlier. Eraqus couldn't help but smile a little. It was good to know that he was getting better. It was like a heavy storm had blown over and the sky was clearing the way for the rays of the sun once more. 

"He's alright…" Aqua said. She sighed in relief. "He's alright." 

"He'll still need to rest," Namine pointed out. "But yes, he should recover soon." she turned to Eraqus. "Are we going to his room?"

"We are," Eraqus said, and spread his wings out. He glided off the landing and headed back towards Ven's room, and the other three angels followed him. 

Flickering lights from a bunch of candles danced around Ventus' unconscious body. Their sweet scent hit Ventus' nostrils and he awakened. His head was pounding, his body felt both hot and cold in several areas and it felt like he was floating in and out of reality. He gingerly lifted his hand and flexed it in front of his face. Why did it look and feel like he had 8 fingers? If he squinted enough, he could see smoke rising from the tips of his nails. He laid on his bed as the world twisted and warped around him.

"What... happened?" He said slowly. 

The last things he remembered was his duel with Vanitas, the ocean of darkness swallowing him deep until he let it flow into him. And that's when it got fuzzy. Different lights and sounds collided together in his head. He was sure he had the dream again, a dream of stars and moons, a dream of the impossible. But he still didn't know why

_ If I have locked away memories of Vanitas,  _ he thought.  _ Is that the same sitch for the stars? It's gotta be…Wait, Vanitas….Vanitas? _

He sat up, but then groaned. His head pounded even harder and everything inside him was trying to get him to lay down again. His body stiffened and he let out a groan when he hit his pillow. 

_ As cool as that absorbing stuff was, I don't think my body enjoyed it,  _ he said to himself.  _ But I don't want to just lay here. If only I could get stronger. _

But for now, he'd have to rest. Once he was recovered, he'd plan to see him again, if he could. Part of him wanted to know more about what he did back at Scala. The other part thought it was a good idea to stay away from the darkness But that dilemma was a future Ven problem. Present Ven was still hurting. 

The door to his room creaked open. It was Terra, and a younger angel he'd never meet before. 

Terra sat on the edge of his bed and greeted him with a smile. 

"There's our princess," he teased lightly. "How are you?" 

Ventus tiredly smiled up at him. "I'm... I'm ok. How did...what...happened?"

"A lot of things, actually. That's why she's here," he said, and pointed to Namine.

The girl stared at Ventus for what seemed to be a long time. 

Ven couldn't help but shiver. 

"Um….what do you want to talk to me about?" 

"Where do I even start," she said. "This might be a bit of a long story." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright as a little bonus, I'm going to tell you what next chapter has in store. A Vanitas chapter, some VanVen bonding, and maybe even some world building. Thanks for reading! And a big, huge thank you to my beta reader and friend who has helped me keep motivation. You can find his very enticing KH fairytale AU fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946923


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